


Young Menace

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (meaning asexual), (no one can stop me), Angst, F/M, Hunk is just tired of this pining nonsense, I will add more tags as I go, Keith has fire powers, Kinda, Lance has water powers, Literally a version of x-men, M/M, Mutant Powers, Pidge has plant powers, Power Exchange, Shiro has death powers, The Garrison sucks, but willing, frick the garrison, hunk has earth powers, lowkey pining keith, no beta we die like men, not really - Freeform, pidge is a plant, pining lance, seriously, sorta - Freeform, this boy is so damn oblivious, this writer is tired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-04-08 13:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14106753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: This is a world of discrimination. Those who possess such wondrous powers, like those out of the old story books are shunned and experimented on "for the safety of the people". Allura is an enhanced in disguise, fearful of what others will say. Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and Shiro are in captivity, hoping for a freedom they never experienced. Is it possible to end this suffering?ORThe Voltron crew suffers, Allura becomes badass, cool powers included, drama, a bit of a corruption.(Frick the Garrison)





	1. Chapter 1

**(This is my au, I came up with it, I did like the Dr Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters however, so I will incorporate that into the story later.**

**Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!)**

 

 

 

The first time the world was made aware of the enhanceds’ presence, it was during a war. World War II, to be exact, one of the most brutal wars the world had ever experienced. This was a war that would be forever scarred in the people of earth’s memories. It was made even worse when the enhanceds were introduced as Germany’s allies. These enhanceds were savage, quickly put together, and ruthless. They were monsters, people who volunteered to be turned into weapons of mass destruction, minds _poisoned_ , souls _gone_ , as they were reformed for something their leaders promised was for the better.

 

Their leaders had _lied_.

 

They were lucky that the enhanceds were put down during the war, and this in fact was the only reason the enemy was stopped. And for the good of the world, all experiments that meant to recreate the enhanceds were shut down and banned. Some organizations tried to recreate the serums for the enhanceds illegally, but they were quickly found out and shut down by the government.

 

And after many years, the horrors of the original enhanceds were forgotten as technology advanced onwards and upwards. But people knew that the fear of the enhanceds would stay with them through the many future generations. They knew within their hearts and souls that if they ever saw or heard of the existence of another enhanced, they would definitely do everything in their power to get rid of them.

 

So when the people of earth heard of the new enhanceds, it was safe to say that they panicked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

There were five distinct children that the world came to know as the knew enhanceds. The child of the ocean, the child of the forest, the child of the earth, the child of the fire, and the teen of space.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The first child they discovered was that of the ocean. He was seen in the middle of a storm, dancing and laughing atop the the surface of the water. The people aboard the ship were astonished to see the three year-old-boy giggling and spinning in the midst of the storm.As he spun, the hurricane whipped around his cloth shorts, faster and faster and faster, matching his speed and chaos. He was _causing_ the storm. He was making it worse. _And he was going to kill everyone aboard the ship!_

 

The people aboard radioed the Garrison, the organization assigned with taking care of military or supernatural issues that threatened the people. And _this_ , this _definitely_ threatened the people.

 

Within a few weeks, more and more reports of the hurricane child poured into the Garrison’s enhanceds office. As the Garrison continued to receive reports and sightings of this child, they put together an attack team, sure that they would be able to get rid of this awful monster, just like they had with the last ones. However, they had orders not to wipe the disgusting creature from the earth, but to bring it back to the labs, to see if they could make some use of nature’s freak.

 

Despite the great tales of the Garrison and it’s soldiers, the first attack team failed horribly. They didn’t even find the child even though the reports had all been in the targeted area. They went home fruitless, and the public was outraged.

 

The second attempt went a bit better and spiraled downwards from there on out. They found the child, sleeping peacefully under the surface of the water, but when they attempted to get near the child, their eyes flashed open, a dark blue, menacing, color that sunk into all of the men’s minds and refused to ever be forgotten.

 

The child awoke and promptly started crying, sitting crosslegged and upside down, as though the surface was upside down for them. The ocean, however created a whirlpool and tore their ships apart. When the team was thrown into the ocean, the water sucked them down, down, down, brought them up slowly so they didn’t pass out, and then promptly threw them back at the shore.

 

When the team regained consciousness, and retold their story repeatedly, some people had a change of heart. This was a child, a child who, despite the ocean having protection over, didn’t kill anyone, didn’t hurt anyone and was _a child_. These were very few people however, and they were quickly silenced by the panicked society.

 

That child-many people demanded to everyone they met-needed to be put down, locked away, before they would hurt anyone else. And everyone agreed.

 

Except for those who listened to their heart and mind and knew that this was not right. They went underground to discuss what to do. They didn’t end up having enough time to save the little boy. It was too late for him.

 

**(And it would be for the others as well.)**

 

When the third team found the boy, he was angry and waiting for them. He threw his hands up in the air and stomped his feet, never sinking into the water. He wailed and cried, his tears and screams causing the ocean to shake and rumble, preparing for a storm. Lightning tore the sky open and rain poured as the little boy cried _out of fear and anger because he knew what was coming and he refused to submit himself to this._

 

The team was terrified and it was only because of a new soldier known as Iverson that the storm was ended and the enhanced was apprehended. In the midst of the panicking and terror, he grabbed a gun equipped with a stun bullet and fired a single shot. It hit the boy in the chest and he stopped wailing. Stopped crying. Stopped the ocean and the storm above. He simply stared at Iverson and the rest of the men aboard the ship with broken blue eyes as all of the water around them froze, the ocean, the waves, the rain, the storm. Then his eyes rolled backwards into his head and he collapsed with all of the water. The ocean became unstable under his feet and he plummeted into the water. Another soldier dived in after him and they readied another, _stronger_ , sedative for the boy.

 

When they made it back to the town, word of their victory and spread quickly and people flooded the streets cheering for the triumphant soldiers and booing the limp little figure in it’s glass prison. The same people who doubted the Garrison’s initiative felt a crack form in their heart as they wanted the little tan boy get carted away to a laboratory. _It simply wasn’t right._ But what could they do?

 

The laboratory took high precautions with the little enhanced. They created many sedatives, shock collars, and a device that had three locking mechanisms that gave him his small amount of water and food each day.They weren’t taking chances. And when the little boy woke up, they were eagerly waiting, syringes in their hands as they yearned to learn how to make their little _monster_ a weapon.

 

The little boy with broken blue eyes simply watched, tears in his eyes as he realized how far away from home he was.

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TO N E ]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garrison trio is finally formed.
> 
> I love pidge with all of my soul
> 
> Hunk is a very confused sweetie.
> 
> Suffering all around.

Three years later, the Garrison started receiving reports of enhanceds again.

 

The second enhanced they found was one that was discovered soon after the boy of water’s capture. This one was first sighted in the rainforest in Central America. Before the locals could get close enough, they vanished into the foliage. The witnesses swore they had seen _something_ , but half of them were convinced it was a ghost, the other half were sure it was something the Garrison needed to hear about. Either way, the Garrison didn’t come to investigate, but they did file the information away for a possible future notice.

 

The second time they saw them, they were in one of Cuba’s national parks, atop the tallest tree, staring out at the ocean. The person who noticed the child was quiet enough to get a picture of them to send to the Garrison. Even though the picture was extremely blurred when zoomed in to see the child’s features, you could still make out their wild light brown hair that was short but long enough to stick out in many directions. They wore a pair of cloth shorts and a cloth t-shirt. Plants were woven into their clothes and twisted around in their sleeves and hair. When the child noticed the person below them, they stood very still for a moment, staring back at the adult below them. Then they jumped into the leaves of the branch and vanished.

 

The third time they were spotted, they were in a forest in Indiana, USA. They were spotted by a couple of drunk teenagers who cat-called the child and called them a freak. Later reports from the teenagers depicted that the little enhanced has scrunched up their nose at them and fell into a bush. When the teens tried to move to pull the child out of the bush they had vanished into, they discovered that poison ivy had grown around their legs and they couldn’t move. The teens then passed out from an overdose of alcohol and didn’t mention it until the police picked them up a few hours later.

 

The public panicked again, shouting threats that if the Garrison did apprehend this enhanced like the last one, they were going to protest that they weren’t the right people for the job. The main focus of panic was because of the transportation abilities this new enhanced seemed to have. If they were connected to plants, how did they know where to find them? They could teleport into their homes and murder them in their sleep, or poison their crops. There was a brief period of time where no one bought any food grown by farmers, for fear that they were going to be poisoned.

 

In the end, it was pure luck that led them to capturing the new enhanced. They realized that the new child continued to return to the Turquino National Park in Cuba, as though they were looking for someone. The soldiers didn’t care who, only that the had a lead on the pest. They cornered the child in a informational building after a chase through the park, when they figured out that the child was only connected through the plants and couldn’t escape on man made ground. They fought, however, biting, scratching, and kicking the soldiers until Iverson stabbed an extremely strong sedative into their shoulder. The same broken look entered their eyes as the last one as they passed out in the soldiers arms.

 

And when they paraded their newly captured prey through the city, the same people who had felt pity for the children felt another crack slice through their heart.

 

When they made it to laboratory, the scientists adjusted the shock collar to their size and then threw the new enhanced into the glass prison with the last one while they prepared to make calls for a new cage. However, when the new child’s body hit the floor, the boy turned and saw who it was and their reaction made the scientists pause. They _recognized_ them. “Pidge!” They said with a slight lisp, dropping to their knees and hugging the smaller child. “Why are you here?” “Pidge” pushed back slightly from the boy’s grasp, hazel eyes slightly dilated from the sedative still running through their veins.

 

“I… I…. was looking for you….. you idjit. I….heard….you…were….ca’ght…..” The boy hugged them again.

 

“I was, I was. I was dumb and I di’n’t lis’en to you.“

 

“That’s…because….you…..are….lance…..you lis’en…. to…. no one….” “

 

I know, and I’m sorry…..I’m sorry pidgey…”

 

“…’s…..okay…..lance….”

 

With that, Pidge passed out in Lance’s arms. Lance leaned against one of his glass walls, hugging Pidge tightly and stroking their hair rhythmically, humming no particular tune.

 

 

They never noticed the scientists taking extreme note of the interaction between them.

* * *

 

 

Another year passed. So did another one. Then the Garrison started receiving reports again.

 

The third enhanced was spotted for the first time near The Himalayas. He wasn’t halfway up the mountain, but he wasn’t near the bottom either. It was a little boy wearing cloth pants and a cloth shirt caked with dirt. His hair was covered in dust, but his face was completely free of any trace of dirt, and it wasn’t for the dirt, the locals would have thought him a typical run-away orphan. But when he lifted an enormous boulder that had been blocking their road for weeks and then turned it to dust, the villagers panicked because _all of the men in the village together could not lift that rock together and this child had turned it to dust_. The Garrison didn’t even have to look very hard for him, he was just wandering through the villages in the mountains, laughing and being kind to the local children who found nothing wrong with him, confused as to why their parents yanked them away from him when they found their sons and daughters playing with the boy.

 

One stun bullet was needed from the soldier’s squadron, commanded by Iverson, yet again. All of these enhanceds were making a name for him and he was loving it. He was rising through the ranks, receiving medal after medal for his bravery.

 

This time, they didn’t need a sedative to keep him down. The scientists had found that the sedatives messed with their power for a few days so they had instructed the militia to _only_ use stun bullets. It would hurt them, but it would be alright. The scientists wanted to prove a theory they had with the enhanceds, so Iverson’s soldiers didn’t march through the streets with the enhanced as they had before, but the media still got their information and pictures.

 

The same people felt a sharp crack branch out from their hearts. It simply wasn’t right. They needed the power, time, and opportunity to get into the laboratory and free them.

 

**(They never got that opportunity, time or power. They were _cowards_. _All talk and no show._ )**

 

When they walked into the laboratory, it had changed. There were now two glass prisons on the ground floor, both connected to a small bathroom in the middle of them. A third waited above them, along with a shock collar waiting on it’s floor.

 

When the Iverson asked the leading scientist why the third cage was so high up, she flippantly flapped her hand as she replied snootily, “Oh, well, if he can control the earth, judging from his state of clothing, and description of powers, then we figured to keep him away from his source of power as we did with the other two experiments.” Iverson nodded quietly and motioned for his soldiers to put the enhanced in the new cage.

 

When the soldiers left the room, the scientists watched the video feed live from the cameras hidden in the room, eager to see if their theory was correct. To their misfortune, it wasn’t. Their failed theory would puzzle them for the remainder of their time at the Garrison.

 

The little one, Pidge, had been pacing, scratching at their arms, as though they missed the presence of their plants. Lance, the boy, had been on his back, staring up at the ceiling, as though he missed the blue sky. As soon as they heard the soldier’s footsteps fade away they both jumped up and started banging on the prison’s walls yelling if the newcomer was alright.

 

The newcomer winced and sat up, before crawling over to the transparent wall and answering, “Yes, I’m alright. Where am I?”

 

Lance and Pidge visibly relaxed their shoulders as Lance replied with a dark tone, “Welcome to the worst place on earth. Maybe even in the universe.”

 

Pidge shot him a look as she answered for the newbie, “We’re in the Garrison’s labs. They’re taking our blood to see if they can manipulate our gifts for weapons. Which is great,” they said sarcastically as they slid down against a wall. “I love being used as leverage to hurt others.” They rubbed at their eyes as they tried to stop the tears threatening to spill over.

 

“So anyways,” Lance said, his voice still bitter. “Why are you here newbie? What did they catch you doing? What’s your name?”

 

“My name….is Hunk. I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear! All I did was lift a big rock that was in the way of a village’s road. I didn’t hurt anyone or do anything wrong.” Hunk’s voice started on the edge of a panic. “This is a mistake! I need to be let out!”

 

“No one’s going to be let out!” Lance shouted, silencing the new boy. He shot to his feet, pacing quickly around the space of his cage. “We’re all _monsters_. _A menace to society_. We’re _dangerous_. _Freaks. Anomalies. Animals that need to be put down. Never mind that we’re HUMAN._ ” He slammed his fist against the glass.

 

The room was silent for a long moment. Then Pidge spoke, their voice shaky. “Forget him. Lance is just upset. It’s one of his bad days.”

 

“Um, may I ask why you’re so upset, Lance?”

 

He was quiet for a long moment before he spoke.

 

“It’s my fault.” He said quietly, his voice small and almost lost in all the beeping and humming of the machines in the empty room. “If….if I hadn’t been stupid and stayed in one spot for so long this wouldn’t have happened. If I hadn’t run, this wouldn’t have happened. I’M THE REASON THIS HAPPENED!” He slammed his fist against the glass again.

 

“No it isn’t you idiot!” Pidge shouted, equally angry at him. “You know I wasn’t able to move between locations until the year I was caught! Hunk, how old were you when you realized you could switch spots as long as you were connected to enough of your element?”

 

“Four, I think?”

 

“Exactly! Lance, don’t be stupid! You were three when you were caught. It wasn’t your fault. It isn’t your fault. We’re not the monsters. It’s them.” Their voice darkened. “They’re the ones who decided to darken our name by making them into weapons. They’re the ones who decided to change them into monsters. WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!” It was Pidge’s turn to slam their fist against the glass.

 

It was quiet for a few minutes. Then Lance spoke again. “You know,” He said quietly, his voice growing stronger with each word. “You’re pretty smart for six year old, Pigeon.”

 

Pidge laughed. “Thanks Lance. Sorry Hunk, if we’ve scared you. But here, we’re the only family we’ve got so we have our usual fights. You’ll get used to it.”

 

“I figured,” Hunk said, and then he went quiet.

 

It stayed quiet for the rest of the time.

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TT W O ]**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's ya boi Keith.
> 
> (Poor shiro. He doesn't deserve this. But im a horrible person sooooooo)
> 
> Enjoy!

**(WARNING: THERE IS A DEATH UP AHEAD, MENTION OF BLOOD!)**

* * *

 

 

It was the typical situation that happened when the fourth enhanced was caught. He had lasted about a year after the last one, and despite the obvious warnings that he was drawing attention to himself via erupting every single volcano and deep ocean volcano in a 50 mile radius.

 

This mission was going to be like taking candy from a baby. The soldiers of the special squad were confident that they would be able to catch this brat in less than ten minutes with all of the experience they had had with the other three anomalies. Captain Iverson was less sure.

 

“Be wary of these...menaces. They’re slyer than you think.” The soldiers were doubtful, but unlocked the safety on their stun pistols all the same.

 

Captain Iverson’s words reigned true in the end. The enhanced was a nine-year-old boy and while the soldiers crept through the foliage below the bubbling volcano, he stood at the lip of the crater, staring at them.

 

“I can see you. I’m not stupid.” He declared, practically daring the men before him to say otherwise. He summoned a wave of lava to rise above him and the men could see his eyes glow red as his hair turned to flames. “And I won’t submit myself to what you’ve done to the others.”

 

The other soldiers cowered in fear as their Captain stood up from the foliage, rolled his eyes, and shot the boy with a stun bullet. “Oh shut up.” The boy stared at them, shock on their face as he looked at the man before him with broken eyes., and crumpled to the ground as the wave of lava simultaneously fell. It was near impossible to pull him out of the quickly dwindling lava as it quickly cooled around him, but they managed with few second-degree burns.

 

And it so the trend went on, as always. They returned back to the United States, and they paraded their prey throughout the streets, as always. However, halfway through, the boy woke up and in a fit of confusion and rage, his hair turned to flames again that quickly died. People panicked and jumped backwards, pulling their children near and screaming fearful insults at the boy who watched it all, confused and hurt at the treatment he was getting for being different. Before he could melt the glass surrounding him, and escape, a soldier popped open the lid and shot him with a taser. He collapsed on his cage floor.

 

The people from before, watched, silently. Quietly. Cowardly.

 

**(They had another meeting that night, describing their brilliant plan to bust in and free the enhanceds, where they would all become heroes of the world. They went home to their warm beds afterwards, some of their guilt erased from their minds momentarily.)**

 

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk weren’t expecting another enhanced joining them, until the scientists started building another cage, this one with built in sprinklers.

 

“I guess we’re gonna get someone,” Lance paused, a rare smirk spreading across his face. “ _Hot?”_ Pidge groaned as Hunk gave a small chuckle.

 

“That was a bad one. Like, really bad.” Pidge groaned, closing both eyes and putting their hands to their foreheads as though they had a headache.

 

Lance gasped. “What?! How dare you! Your insult has hit me straight at my heart and shattered it into thousands of pieces and because of that,” He spun so his back was to Pidge and threw his arm across his eyes. “I am doomed to die!” He dramatically fell backwards catching himself last second against the glass. He slid down and fell over so he was lying on his side and held his breath, as though he had truly died.

 

Pidge laughed. “You really are something, aren’t you Lance?”

 

Lance twisted around to look at them, a cheesier grin prominent upon his face. “One of my natural gifts.” He drawled, winking at them.

 

Pidge shook her head, smiling. Hunk called to them form above, “You sure are Lance. You sure are.” Lance’s grin grew wider. It vanished when a squadron of soldiers marched into the room carrying something. He got to his feet and pressed himself against the farthest wall from them as Pidge and Hunk did the same. They had seen these soldiers before on many occasions and the soldiers were cruel in nature, taking turns shocking them and calling them animals.

 

Captain Iverson was with them as well and he watched them with a malevolent smile as the soldiers barked an order to the scientists in the room with one way glass. The door to the new cage buzzed and then opened as three soldiers and their package walked in and quickly put the shock collar on the new enhanced. And as quickly as they came, they left, locking the door of the cage and the door of the room.

 

The three prisoners waited a moment before pounding their fists against the glass walls and shouting, “Hey are you okay?” and “Geez buddy, get up! Hey are you dead?!”

 

The newcomer groaned, lifted their head, and locked eyes with Lance as they simultaneously wiped the blood dripping from their nose with their arm. The boy’s face was bruised, bloodied, and scattered with cuts but all Lance could think as he looked at those glowing, broken, darkened eyes, was _beautiful._

 

He mentally slapped himself and banished the blush threatening to appear on his face.As he fell silent, waiting for the new comer to say something. Something that would confirm to him that they were soulmates because _he could sense it._

 

Instead the newcomer turned their head, spit a smatter of blood onto the floor and said in a sore voice, “What are you looking at?”

 

Well then. Not soulmates. Lance felt his face get hot as his head banished any romantic feelings he had for this moron. “Uh, rude dude. I ask if you’re okay, and you insult me? And for you’re information,” He stepped back from the glass and gestured to the entirety of himself. “You’re looking at me. A fabulous specimen of the….uh…..” He looked up at Hunk, who looked back at him, confused. “…enhanced race.” He finished, shooting a pair of finger guns at him.

 

_Was this idiot for real?_ The newcomer looked at Pidge, both eyebrows raised. “Is he for real?”

 

“‘He’, is right here.” Lance said, pouting and crossing his arms like a petulant child. “‘He’ heard every word you said about ‘them’”

 

Pidge cackled, and the newcomer looked at them in confusion as they declared with a wide grin, “I like him. Finally, someone to relate to.” The newcomer felt their eyebrows go up in surprise, but offered a small grin all the same. “What’s your name, newbie? It’s weird to continuously call you newbie in my head, so I might as well have your name?”

 

“Keith.”

 

“Welcome,” Pidge gestured with their arms to their surroundings, bleak white machines, bleak white walls, glass cages and the four occupants. “To the wonderful land of the other side. I’m Pidge, the dramatic one is Lance-”

 

“Hey!”

 

“-and the quiet one up there’s named Hunk.”

 

“Hello.”

 

“Hi.”

 

There was a few minutes of silence before Keith spoke up again. “What’s the purpose of this place? Why am I here?”

 

“The purpose of this place is for the scientists to harvest our blood and harness them as a sort of energy for their weapons. Those weapons are then sold to a company called….what was it called?” Hunk asked, frustration of not remembering crinkling his brow.

 

“Galra Inc.” Lance helpfully called out. “Their ceo, Zarkon is the one who made a deal with the Garrison-that’s this place, a military lab designated to hunt people like us down- to buy all weapons that they come up with or supply.”

 

Keith was quiet. “How do you know all of this stuff?”

 

Hunk shrugged. “Other than...our turns, we don’t have much to do, and they can’t take to much blood or we’ll pass out and we don’t wake up for hours. So every now and then, they’ll drop a sort of tablet into our cages and it’ll have stuff for us to learn about. History, English, Geography, Math, Science, Languages, anything and everything. I’m pretty sure they think that we aren’t smart enough to understand any of this information, but we do.” “

 

I learned Italian pretty quickly and I can almost speak it fluently.” Pidge butted in. Keith raised an eyebrow.

 

“Really?”  


“ _Certo che posso, idiota.”_ They sniped. Keith laughed, knowing somehow that the little enhanced had insulted him. He just knew it.

 

“I learned spanish, which is similar to italian.” Lance said, smiling. “ _Es una de las pocas cosas que tengo._ ”

 

“Learning is one of the few things we have, and we’re at least grateful that we have access to learn. There’s not much else to do.” Hunk finished.

* * *

 

The last enhanced was the strangest of all. And they weren’t found on earth.

 

They were found in space.

 

A group of astronauts were heading towards the international space station when they spotted a peculiar capsule floating slowly towards them. The astronauts aboard their ship radioed the space station and asked if they were expecting some sort of package or another ship. The space station replied, telling the crew that they weren’t expecting anything but they should pull the capsule inside the space station anyways, to see what was inside.

 

When the capsule was safely inside the ship, the astronauts tried to pry it’s walls apart but to no success. They ended up creating a hole inside one of the walls to peer inside.

 

Inside was a thirteen year old boy.

 

He had dark hair with a short hair cut and a forelock of hair that was completely white. The scientists shook him awake, wondering if he was an alien if he looked so human. Then he opened his light gray eyes and vanished.

 

He hadn’t vanished, the scientists noted, as so much as turned completely transparent. He reappeared and looked up dazedly at the men and women surrounding him, who were all staring at him in confusion, horror, and dread.

 

“I…” He seemed to lose his voice for a moment. “Am I…..on earth? Am I home?” His question sealed away his fate.

 

Later, some of the scientists who didn’t trust him radioed the Garrison back on home, asking them for advice. Some of the others were part of the secret society who believed that the enhanceds deserved a proper chance to be children, stayed behind and asked the boy questions and answered some of his own.

 

“I….believe I was born on earth…my mother….she was of earth, as was my father. However…..I don’t remember anything else about them either than the…..light?” His last word was posed as a question and he flickered out of sight for a moment. When he reappeared he was sitting near one of the open windows, and staring out at the stars. “I feel like I’m from there…” He said softly, reaching out and putting his palm against the glass. “But at the same time,” He said, looking down at the slowly turning earth with it’s pale blue oceans and paler forests and almost white earth. “I feel like I belong down there.” He turned back around and looked at the flabbergasted members of the crew watching him.

 

He gave a small smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you afraid. I’m a bit disoriented. I don’t remember…anything really. Could you tell me, however, what happened to the earth? It used to have so much more color.”

 

The astronauts stayed silent for a moment, wondering if they were wrong to keep what his fate was to be or whether it would be bad to scar him. Before they could say anything however, one of the other scientists walked in with a taser and stunned the boy. He crumpled to the ground as the scientist who shot him turned and looked at the one who had been speaking to him.

 

“Oh leave it alone,” They said flippantly, gesturing with the taser at the form on the cold metal floor. “You knew that was coming. So don’t act so surprised as though I didn’t warn you.” Their voice shifted to a lower, more violent tone. “They’re monsters, animals, freaks. They need to be put down or taken away so they can become something _useful_ to society. It’s their fate to pay for what they did in the second World War.”

 

The others said nothing, but nodded slightly.

 

The astronaut holding the taser gestured for some of the others to come in and pull the boy into a holding cell.

 

“He may not seem dangerous, but he could probably kill us all in our sleep.”

 

And yet to the people who had been speaking with the boy earlier, he didn’t seem to be a horrible monster. It seemed wrong to simply drop the past actions of others onto their descendants.

 

So this was why the astronaut they had been talking to found themselves sneaking into the cell where the boy was being held.

 

It was a pitiful sight, to see a young teenager sitting in a metal box, hands cuffed to the bars inside. His head was hanging down, his white forelock drooping over his eyes. It was so _wrong_.

 

“Hello?” They asked quietly.

 

The boy jerked his head up and looked at them, blinking out of sight for a moment. “Oh. Hello. It’s you again,” He replied just as quietly. A small smile came onto his face as he looked into the scientists eyes. “It’s alright. I do suppose I am destined to be here. After all, I am incredibly dangerous.”

 

“But that isn’t fair to you!” The scientist cried, angry that this poor boy had lost hope so quickly. “You’ve done nothing wrong to prove you are dangerous or willing to kill us! Even your powers-“

 

“I’m going to stop you right there.” The boy interrupted, his eyes suddenly alight with a small glow. “I could murder everyone in this ship simply by brushing up against them.”

 

The scientist shut up, surprised at his sudden brutality. “I seem to only have a simple vanishing power. It looks that way. But I am, in a way, death.” The boy lowered his head again, hair shadowing his eyes so only his mouth could be seen in the dim light of the room. “Space is…infinite. As is time. And in a certain context, it could be considered my partner.” He looked up again, his eyes shining and a genuine smile upon his face. “The thing about space is it changes like the fate of a being’s life. Any one action could lead to it’s inevitable death or expansion. And you would never know because it’s so far away. That’s the beauty of it. You get to hold on to it a little while longer.

 

The same is for every living being. You could choose to take someone as your partner, and in return spend your entire life with them, or you could be killed by their hands or their bidding a few months later. Every choice, gets you some where, but it eventually leads you towards death.

 

You yourself chose to come to space, which in turn led to your destiny of being killed one day in the very near future. I’m sorry, but meeting me has put yourself in danger.” The boy paused. “I’m not saying that I can see the future, simply can tell someone’s death. And if I want, I could adjust someone’s lifespan as well, making it as long as they deserve or as short as they have made it themselves. It’s their choice, their ruling. I’m simply the enforcer in most cases of life.”

 

“H-how do you know all of this?” The scientist asked shakily, staring in horror at the boy before them. “How could you be so cruel to do that to me, to others? What did I ever do to you?” They were near hysterics, and were backing towards the door, ready to bolt.

 

“Let me try to sum up what I can do for you: One, I can vanish and reappear, just like the sudden approach of Death. Two, I can see people’s deaths, just as Death himself can to know when to come when one’s time is up. And Three, I can end a life if I deem it worthy.”

 

“You’re a monster!” They shouted. “Ending someone’s life? That’s crazy! That’s disgusting! Why would you do that?”

 

The boy fixed them with a look. “Can humans not do the exact same? I may have it in a simpler context but, there are probably hundreds of ways to kill a person. From what I can tell, watching over people for the thirteen years of my life, humans are brutal and murderous. And yet you call us the monsters?”

 

The scientist stopped, turned around and collapsed against a wall, still facing the boy. “I-I never thought of it that way. I’m sorry. What is your name?”

 

“I…don’t remember. I think I was nicknamed…Shiro. I don’t know why, I don’t know anything about myself, where I came from I have nothing. Nothing but the ways of humanity and the ways of life, whether it is of a sentient or of a distant galaxy.”

 

They were silent for a long time then. The boy, Shiro, thinking about all that he had learned about humanity and how it had changed. _Was it really so negative towards his kind now?_ The scientist, thinking about their entire life. _What they could do to help this boy live longer._

 

“Listen to me,” The scientist said suddenly. “I don’t know if you know now, but all of your kind, the enhanceds, they are reported and taken to the Garrison which manufactures weapons from your blood. They’re planning on taking you there. There are four others there. An enhanced who can control water, an enhanced who can control plants, an enhanced who can control the earth, and an enhanced who can control fire. When you go in there, you won’t ever make it out again. There is no way to escape from the inside. Many reporters have tried to enter but have been killed before they could even make it past the front gate.

 

However, there is a secret society that is slowly building meant to help you and save you. They’re building so slowly however, that they wouldn’t be able make it in time to intercept you. They may be able to get you out in the future. They’re called the-“

 

A gunshot sounded and Shiro shouted, “No!” As the poor scientist turned around to see their murderer before collapsing to the floor, their blood creating a lake around them. “How could you!” He shouted at the astronaut who had held the taser earlier. “They had a chance to make it out alive!”

 

“Then why did you lie?!” The newcomer shouted. “You told them that someday in the near future they would die.” They gestured towards the body with the bloody puddle with the gun in their hand. “This is near enough, is it not?”

 

“WHEN I SAID THE NEAR FUTURE I MEANT THAT THEY HAD A CHANCE OF MAKING IT BACK!” He roared, his voice reverberating throughout the room. The scientist took a step back. “THEY HAD THE CHANCE TO MAKE IT BACK, SEE THEIR FAMILY ONE LAST TIME BEFORE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DECIDED TO ACT RASHLY! YOU ARE THE INJUSTICE THAT THEY HAD TO FACE BEFORE PASSING ON!” Shiro’s face darkened. “And unfortunately for you, you will live long. You will make it back home, see your family, and try to pretend everything is normal. But it won’t be. Because you killed someone. And that kind of guilt never goes away.”

 

“What about you then??” They shouted back. They were getting so loud now, that everyone aboard the space station was crowding around the open doorway, keeping a distance from the occupants inside. “You control death don’t you? You will probably end lives as well! Are you saying you’re immune to that kind of guilt??”

 

“I never said that. I never said I wasn’t human. I may have different genetics, but I am still a part of your human race. I am simply a mutant. A variation of you.” Shiro shouted back, steel entering his eyes.

 

“Oh, give me a break!” The hysteric scientist said, before firing their gun through the glass and pinning the boy in the right shoulder. The boy’s broken gaze stayed locked onto the shooter’s until his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

 

“That was a smart move,” One of the other scientists said, clapping the shooter on the shoulder. “But how come you shot-“

 

“I did what I had to do. That boy filled their head with lies. They would have freed him so he could kill us all and then run rampart down on Earth. I simply did what had to be done.”

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TT H R E E ]**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro arrives!
> 
> (Poor him, he's so confused)

The Garrison moved quickly to accommodate themselves for their newest “recruit”. A new prison was built and did not go unnoticed by the current occupants.

 

“Oh god, another one?” Hunk asked quietly.

 

“I hope they put up a good fight.” Keith said aloud. He had not forgotten how he had been taken down with one bullet.

 

“I wonder who we’ll get.” Mused Lance, in his trademark spot from the floor, arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

 

“Look at us. We don’t even blink an eye that another one got caught. It’s disgusting.” Pidge said, scrolling through their tablet.

 

“Well,” Hunk said slowly, as though unsure of what he was saying. “We…don’t know how to react any other way. In Lance’s case, he’s been here for the basic entirety of his life, even if it only eight years.”

 

“What a very short life.” Keith retorted and Pidge snorted.

 

“Hey! Rude!” Lance shot back, not moving from his position. He had learned long ago that Keith’s jabs were meant to lighten the mood a bit. He didn’t always have to rise up to the bait.

 

“SHUT UP YA BRATS!” One of the security guards shouted, smacking their baton against the side of Keith’s wall.The security had been upped ever since a reporter had made it so far inside the laboratory that they were two feet from the enhanceds’ room. Now there were patrols of security thugs marching proudly throughout the building along with the crazed scientists that were positive that they had found the “perfect key” to unlock the enhanceds’ powers.

 

How ridiculous.

 

“Look alive, soldiers.” Iverson strolled into the room, proud as a peacock. He hadn’t been the one to catch the newest enhanced, but he was proud either way. Another monster soon to be put down.

 

“How hilarious.” Keith commented, amusing himself by doing a handstand against one of the glass walls. One of the security guards snickered and electrocuted him with the shock collar around his neck. He fell on his head, and rubbed it with one of his hands while simultaneously glaring at the security guard.

 

“You okay?” Hunk asked.

 

“Yeah.” Came the reply.

 

“But, yeah, to agree with Keith, we aren’t your soldiers. Like we’d ever serve you, _Iverson_.” Lance’s voice had poison dripping off of the general’s name.

 

“Either way, you are subordinate to me, and because of me, thousands of people are living their lives in peace without fear of being murdered by one of your hands.”

 

“Oh gee,” Pidge said sarcastically. “Imagine if we were out, free and about! Maybe people would even worship us in an alternate universe!” They received an electric shock for that, but Iverson left the room so that was a plus.

 

On the night that the new enhanced was to arrive, the prisoners couldn’t sleep. Sure, they had a pillow that wasn’t the greatest but it did it’s job. However, it wasn’t the pillow that was the issue. It was the thought ringing through each of their heads.

 

That comment Pidge had made a few days before. The one about if they hadn’t been….freaks.

 

“Hey guys,” Came Hunk’s voice from above them, as it always was. “Have you ever wondered how it might have been….if none of this had ever happened?”

 

“Can’t say that I have.” Keith replied.

 

“Well…what do you think would have happened? Would we have met? Would we have been friends?” Hunk asked, wondering if these questions would haunt him and immediately mentally slapping himself for asking that.

 

“Well, Keithy-boy here would have _totally_ been my rival.” Lance proclaimed.

 

“Like you would be able to keep up with me.” Keith snorted.

 

“What makes you so sure?!” Lance retorted. “For all you know, in a battle of wits or strength, I could totally take you on!”

 

“Keep dreaming.”

 

“Hey! I have an idea!” Hunk shouted, desperate to keep them from each other’s throats. “What if we all met because….uh…we….were…..uh…Lance, help me out here.”

 

“I know! We were kidnapped by a blue mechanical lion!”

 

There was dead silence. Then all of them burst out laughing. “A-a-blue-robot…lion?!”

 

“Oh my god Lance.”

 

“This is the joke of the century.”

 

“Pretty good ah?” Lance grinned. “No, but I actually like this idea. Imagine that we were kidnapped by a blue lion…and then we teleported to a distant universe and became defenders of the universe or something! Sounds pretty cool, no?”

 

“Yeah, it does.” Pidge nodded. “But what if there was a world like this one except people were split in to four species? Like, there’s humans, there’s mermaids, and there’s the avians. And the people here at Galra Inc. turn into….fluffy purple space cats!”

 

That put them into another bout of laughter.

 

“Hey! What if we only met up in college! Can you imagine that?” Hunk asked. “Like, we only met each other because we all go to the same coffee shop, or…to start Lance and Keith’s “rivalry” one of them accidentally dumped coffee on the other in class? Oh man, I would pay good money to see all of these universe happen.”

 

They all calmed down after that, and were about to finally fall asleep when Keith muttered, “I think the defenders of the universe was the best universe….”

 

A few hours later they were all promptly awaken by the sound of sirens. “Code Red! Code Red! Orders: NO ONE IS TO TOUCH THE NEW ENHANCED! I REPEAT NO ONE IS TO TOUCH THE NEW ENHANCED!”

 

“What is going on?” Hunk groaned, getting up from his position.

 

“I think…the new enhanced is here.” Pidge said.

 

“Someone turn off the alarm…” Lance whined, throwing the pillow over his head to block out the noise.

 

“Get up Lance. I think something important is going to happen!” Pidge shouted at him.

 

Grudgingly, Lance got up, and blearily rubbed his eyes as a squadron of soldiers walked in wearing hazmat suits and holding onto a half conscious boy. The boy’s right shoulder was heavily bandaged and bloodied.

 

The soldiers walked past the glass cage and into a separate room, one the scientists had used to give the enhanced’s sedatives, and health check-ups.

 

“Well I hope they do something civilized for once and actually bandage their new subject.” Keith commented, watching with his dark eyes as the newcomer groaned as he was dragged into the room.

 

A loud scream came from the other room along with shouts for a sedative and bandages. Hunk winced. “Apparently not.”

 

After a few hours, the boy was unceremoniously dumped onto his cell floor, his head hitting the floor as the soldiers threw him against the glass room.

 

“OI!” Lance shouted, catching the attention of the nearby scientists. “OI! LET US GET OVER TO HIM! COME ON!”

 

The scientist sneered. “Why should we?”

 

“Because maybe you should prove for once in your life that you aren’t a total monster,” Lance shouted, poison dripping off of every word. The scientist was shocked, but with a grim look on their face, they pressed the button that opened the glass tunnels between each of their glorified cages. The four kids stood, surprised that it had worked, but hurriedly got up and ran as fast as they could towards the newcomer, which wasn’t very fast, due to their imprisonment.

 

“Hey! Hey, buddy! You alright?” Lance asked, rolling the boy over so he was on his back.

 

“Wake up! Hey! You alive?” Hunk asked, looking worriedly at Pidge, who was bending down to check his pulse. Before they could get the chance, Keith shook the guy like a rag doll, causing the poor boy to startle awake. He grabbed Keith by the neck, thinking him of an attacker, before realization showed in his eyes and he gently put Keith down.

 

“Oh shoot! I’m so sorry, I’m...” He shook his head, as though he was trying to get something out of his head. “Still dizzy from the surgery.” That was when the others noticed his newly attached prosthetic.

 

It was an ugly gray color, like the color of concrete and it had black seams where the plating joined together. Every now and then it would pulse purple and the boy would stiffen as though shocked.

 

“Oh man,” Pidge shook their head. “I am so sorry. They made your arm your shock collar? Man, that sucks.”

 

The boy looked surprised, lifted his arm to inspect it then dropped it, a grim look on his face. “Apparently.”

 

“So uh, what’s your name? And we can all introduce ourselves.” Lance suggested.

 

“My name is Shiro...who are you and what is the point of this place?”

 

“Well I’m Lance, the scowly guy over there is named Keith, the shorty is named Pidge, and the adorable one is named Hunk.”

 

“Seriously Lance?” Keith complained.

 

“I’ll show you short.” Pidge threatened, faking a kick towards his shin.

 

Lance gave a small shriek and jumped behind Hunk.

 

“And that is a basic summary of our general behavior. When it’s a good day anyways.” Hunk finished.

 

Shiro was silent, taking all of them in. “So, I assume that you all have powers? What are they, if you don’t mind me asking.”

 

The four enhanceds looked at each other before looking at Shiro.

 

“We haven’t used our powers in so long...I almost forgot. I have control over the earth. I can turn something to dust if I touch it and will it to.” Hunk said.

 

“I have the ability to control plants, and their growth. I think. It’s kind of fuzzy.” Pidge said, squinting at nothing in particular as they tried to remember the details of their powers.

 

“I have the ability to control fire and magma, as well as lava. Basically anything hot.” Keith said, not noticing when Lance gave a low chuckle. Hunk side eyed Lance, but didn’t say anything.

 

“I….don’t remember my power. At all.” Lance finished, slumping against the wall of Shiro’s enclosure. “I was captured when I was three, and it’s been...what? Eight years? Pidge how long have you been here?”

 

“I think 6. Or 5? I have no idea. Hunk, how long have you been here?”

 

“Three…or two years?”

 

“So if we estimate correctly…” Lance shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been here for eight years.”

 

Shiro’s jaw dropped. “Eight years? How??”

 

“I dunno. By now…I’ve forgotten how the water looks and feels.” Lance finished.

 

“I’ve forgotten how the plants look and the pulses of life going through them.” Pidge added, a sad look on their young face.

 

“How the earth feels beneath my feet when I’ve been walking for miles.”

 

“The burn of fire and the warmth of heat.” Keith looked around angrily. “Besides you, I’ve been here for the least amount of time! But I’ve still forgotten the best parts of life. And that’s just sick.”

 

Shiro was silent for a moment, wondering if he should keep what he saw from the space station a secret.

 

“It’s...pale.”

 

“What?” Hunk asked, startled out of his stupor.

 

“The earth. The plants. The water. It’s all a pale, sickly color. Like it’s missing something. The only kind of “natural” coloring for the food is that of chemicals. Nothing is growing very well, the animals who rely on the ground for a home are dying, and the sea life is dying, as though the water is poisoned. It’s as though,” Shiro shook his head. “They need you out and about to survive. And look at you all, it makes sense!” He gestured to each of them. “You’re all halfway to death, I can feel your life forces drying up, even though that shouldn’t be happening because you’re connected to nature which is eternal, but it is! It’s awful! Everything,” he finished, staring them each in the eye. “Everything is dying because of a fear that is nonexistent. These people are chasing their own foolish shadows and-”

 

He was unable to finish as his newly attached arm shocked him hard enough that he passed out. As he fell towards the floor, he saw the others fall and then be dragged from his cell back to their own glorified cages by their guards.

 

_There really is no hope._ Shiro thought as he passed into oblivion.

 

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TF O U R ]**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awww Allura's shy.
> 
> (And doesn't know how to speak up...)

Allura was possibly the shyest person on the planet Earth.

 

Despite her family’s fortune that was famous world wide and her constant visits to charity balls and other events, she was the shyest celebrity ever known.

 

It didn’t help that she was twelve and still single, something virtually unacceptable in the paparazzi filled world that she lived in. Or the fact that her cousin was way more social than she was. He rubbed that fact into her face every time they saw each other at some meeting or organization.

 

The other thing that was pretty bad about her was that in addition being incredibly shy she also was never able to stand up for herself, which led to some bullying. (Who soon gave up, because she was too pathetic, shy, and nice to even bully, which was ridiculous.)

 

There was one other factor that she kept hidden from everyone, her father, his advisor who was like family, her uncle, her cousin, her classmates, everyone.

 

She was an enhanced. Allura Altavilla had powers, powers that would get her thrown in the Garrison’s labs if anyone ever found out.

 

Her “powers” were to be able to change into any person she had ever seen, something she had discovered at age eight. She had been crying on her bed, looking at photographs of her mother and wishing she was there with her, when she looked at the mirror across from her bed and saw her mother herself. She had panicked and locked the door before Coran, her father’s advisor could see her. The death of her mother had hid everyone in her little family hard, and seeing her again, only for it _not_ to be her, would hurt even more.

 

That beginning of the strange transformations were the most terrifying days of her life. She hid in her room for the entirety of a week, never allowing anyone to see her as she took food from her servants through the door. Everyone was extremely worried for her of course. She was one of the sweetest people anyone knew, and to see her in such disarray was disheartening.

 

Eventually, after the tedious and painful body switching, she finally returned to her own form. The moment she realized the wretched changes were over, she stared at the mirror, checking that every single part of her was the same as it had always been, with all of its flaws and imperfections. Then she had sprinted to the bathroom and promptly threw everything up.

 

After a few hours in the bathroom and taking a long shower, she had walked out of her room for the first time in seven days, and straight towards the mansion’s library. Quite a few servants had dropped their items seeing the young adolescent cheerfully waving at them as they walked past. It wasn’t a secret that her father had worried for her, and she had missed an important charity ball, so the reporters were buzzing with ideas why she had been missing.

 

Truth be told, Allura had been terrified walking out and about the house, even if she was only heading for the library. While puking her guts out several hours before, her mind had been racing, wondering if anyone in the past had had powers. Was it her mother, or her father? Or had the trait skipped a generation, making her grandparents the ones with powers? If powers could be passed down, then what about the five enhanceds in the Garrison, did they have a family? Were there limitations to powers? Were there man-made ways to get powers? She yearned to know all of the answers to her questions.

 

The past actions of those original enhanceds brought her only misfortune and led her to find no answers to her burning questions. Every book that spoke of these “powers” spoke of them in a biased tone, that of a person who was fearful or disgusted by the freaks of nature that spotted the earth.

 

_“‘If you should ever meet one of these cruel beasts, whether it is alone or with a group, always remember that a crucifix should shock them out of their demonic ways.’”_ One of the book depicted a group of people cowering in front of a hideous deformed person, with fire burning from their hands. The next picture depicted the demon cowering before one human’s foot as they held a crucifix in their right hand and the people behind them held pitchforks.

 

“Seriously? That’s ridiculous.” Allura said aloud, disgusted at the way people were talking about these “freaks”. Then again, the book was from the earlier times, during the witch hunts.

 

She put the book on the reject pile and picked up another that she had taken off the shelves. This one was newer and it would probably work. However, it was written by one of the scientists at the Garrison, and the stamp beneath the title of the book, _“Ways to Defeat A Monster”_ , had red bolded letters saying, “THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY EXAMINED BY THE GARRISON AUTHORITIES.”

 

_This will definitely be biased,_ Allura groaned internally, not wanting to deal with another snobby person’s tone. However, when she opened the cover of the book and read the first page, she found that it was mostly facts, with only a bit of bias. It would actually teach her about the genetics involved with enhanceds.

 

“Oh this is perfect!” Allura exclaimed.

 

“What’ll be perfect? Allura?” Allura froze, then turned around to see her father, Alfor, standing near the entrance.

 

Allura quickly erased all looks of panic on her face. “Father!” She exclaimed, running to her father and tackling him in a hug. “I’m so glad you are here! How was your trip?” She asked, changing the subject as deftly as she could. No such luck.

 

Alfor’s face split into a grin. “My darling Allura, my trip overseas was fine, but what is this that I hear about being very sick recently? Are you alright?”

 

Allura flushed at his worried tone. “I’m fine father. Really, I’m alright.”

 

“Alright then. What was this about a book being perfect? Perfect for what, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 

Allura’s panic that had subsided came roaring back in full force. The subject of the enhanceds was an incredibly delicate subject. People who thought it was inhumane were usually killed in protests, and the public thought that the children were where they belonged. Others were incredibly delighted by progress the Garrison was making with the enhanceds and the weapons based off of them. All in all, people didn’t say very much about the enhanceds because the subject was a delicate matter and it could get you killed if you said the wrong things about it.

 

“I was…” Her mind danced, trying to think of an excuse, or whether she should just come clean about the entire thing. _No._ She thought. _I will not tell anyone of my curse. I don’t want to bring shame to the family name_. _But I_ _can_ _come clean half-way!_

 

She took a deep breath, then looked up at her father’s worried face. “I was looking for a book on the Garrison’s research. On the enhanceds.”

 

Her father’s face went grim as she hurriedly continued. “I-I mean! Um, I wanted to know what they were doing. And, uh, um, since one of the scientists published some information, I, uh, thought, that, um, I should check it out?”

 

Alfor gave a great sigh. “In all honesty, I have never approved of what those Garrison people are doing. It’s inhumane, and I greatly dislike it. However,” he gestured to the book, which was sitting on a nearby table. “I will not stop you from learning our history and knowledge. That leads us to repeating the mistakes of those before us. However, we should not be blamed for our ancestors mistakes. Do you understand what I am saying Allura?” He put his hands on her shoulders and stared her straight in the face.

 

“I understand father.” Allura said firmly, but internally she was confused. Why was her father so passionate about this subject if her uncle was the one who had bought the Garrison? She didn’t understand.

 

She took the book and studied it, front to back, cover to cover. She poured over every page every smidge of information, every picture. The pictures were terrifying to her. There were only three subjects of the pictures in the entire book, but it was because they were of the enhanceds that they scared her.

 

There was an entire chapter dedicated to the appearances of the _prisoners_ and they looked awful. They gave them no justice by giving them names, all they had were numbers.

 

There were two pictures above each caption describing each enhanced. A picture of the day they were brought in and a picture around the time of the book’s publish. There was one similarity in all of the pictures, despite the obvious aging; all of the enhanceds’ eyes had a broken look to them, as though they had lost their spirit.

 

_Enhanced 1: Brought into custody at estimated age: 3-years-old. Estimated age at time of publish: 7-years-old._

_This enhanced had the ability to control water molecules._

 

The pictures above showed a young boy whose ethnicity looked cuban. He had lanky limbs, dark blue eyes and long brown hair, probably since it hadn’t ever been cut.

 

_Enhanced 2: Brought into custody three years after Enhanced 1. Estimated age at time of capture: 4-years-old. Estimated age at time of publish: 5-years-old._

_This enhanced had the ability to control plants._

 

The pictures above the caption showed a young child, their gender hard to make out with waist length, light brown hair and light brown eyes. Their ethnicity look italian.

 

_Enhanced 3: Brought into custody a year after Enhanced 2. Estimated time at age of capture and age at time of publish: 8-years-old._

_This enhanced had the power to move earth._

 

The two pictures showed a boy large for his age with shoulder length, dark brown hair and honey brown eyes. His ethnicity looked like that of the samoan islands.

 

Allura pressed on through the book, continuing to read despite the growing fears that she would be caught an enhanced. The book from the Garrison had an entire chapter dedicated to the soldiers of the special unit that took down enhanceds and how they took down the monsters. And what she read, scared her.

 

However, she had no reason to worry. The academy she attended had a history class, and there was a special unit dedicated to the enhanceds. The academy itself was filled to the brim with children from high class families, and everyone there acted fake from time to time. Still, Allura had to go, and it wasn’t too bad that often.

 

It was an pretty interesting class, better than just listening to the teacher drone on and on about some random business that died out years ago. However, her cousin Lotor, didn’t think so.

 

“This is so lammeeee….” He had whined, one particular day after Allura had finally decided she was done reading the disgusting book. “I don’t care about this crap. None of the enhanceds are interstingggggg.”

 

The teacher heard him and shot him a look. “Lotor Gatsonis. Do you have something to share with the class?” The teacher had guts, knowing who his father was, but this teacher in particular was very dedicated to actually _teaching_ her bratty students something.

 

Lotor straightened from his languid pose in his seat and stared the teacher in the face. “Yes, I do in fact have something to say: The enhanceds at the Garrison aren’t interesting at all, so I do not understand why they are so important, important enough to have a unit dedicated to them.”

 

“Well, since you have ties to the Garrison,” the teacher shot back, seemingly dauntless. “Then I should ask of you to ask your father for permission for a video of some of the enhanceds. It will give us a chance to fully understand why they are monsters,” she shot a look at the boy. “And why they can be put to a _use_.” Lotor sat back down, face slightly flushed.

 

But he did what was asked, and the next day, walked into school with a video on his phone.

 

“I asked one of the guards to record about twenty minutes of the enhanceds. Here you are ma'am.” He said, handing the phone to the teacher, who blinked, surprised that they had received permission, and hooked it up to the screen.

 

“I didn’t look at it, but I trust that it should be to your satisfaction.” Lotor preened at the fact that he had bested the teacher in this round. He would be telling his father about this.

 

The teacher nodded and played the recording. In it, the camera was slightly unfocused and shaky until the cameraman fiddled with the controls and fixed it.

 

The first ten minutes were walking around the cages, getting several angles on each of the enhanceds, who gave little notice to the camera. However, one enhanced noticed and made a face, scrunching up one eyes, dragging their hand down their face and sticking out their tongue.

 

There were a few giggles at this, and then the boy stiffened and fell over, electricity running over his collar.

 

“You alright Lance?” Another one called. ‘Lance’ shot a dirty look at the guard.

 

“Yeah, I’m okay. Geez, dude. You didn’t need to set the voltage that high.” The guard grunted in an answer and turned around to see another enhanced, this one staring straight at the camera.

 

“I can presume that this is for ‘Prince Lotor’?” They said, making sarcastic quotation marks for the camera at the nickname. “Well then, assuming that Lotor goes through with handing out this video with the permission of his father, then I can clearly make a prediction that someone will see this.” The guard made a slightly confused noise, because this was a five-year-old, making accurate predictions. Lotor’s relaxed face changed to a slightly worried one.

 

“Hello, viewers. I am a prisoner here at the Garrison, which was bought by Galra Inc. The point of the Garrison is to use us to make weapons from our powers, which,” the small enhanced shrugged. “Isn’t really working. So far they’re just-” A scream cut them off as they kneeled over in pain and shook on the floor.

 

“Pidge! Pidge! PIDGE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!?” Came Lance’s worried voice. “I SWEAR IF YOU DID ANYTHING WRONG TO THEM-”

 

“Lance! Chill out! I’m sure they’re alright!” Came the third enhanced’s unsure voice. Lance ignored him and continued banging on the bullet proof glass.

 

“PIDGE! PIDGE! PID-” A groan wrenched itself from his lips as his eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

 

“LANCE! PIDGE!” The video cut off from there.

 

A lot of the students were disgusted at the behavior of the enhanceds, disgusted that such animals could show such defiance to their masters. Others were slightly sickened at the idea that the enhanceds could come out and kill them. Others were extremely angry that those jokers could make threats at _them_. Allura just stared at the video with a blank face, afraid to show any emotion. She was terrified and sad for those unfortunate prisoners. But to show any sympathy or pity for them, meant being an outcast. She kept quiet.

 

“So, cuz,” Lotor’s voice came from her left and she slowly turned to look at him. “Whaddaya think?”

 

She swallowed, and when she spoke, her voice came out croaky. “About what?”

 

Lotor raised an eyebrow. “The dumb lab rats of course. They’re so dumb, they don’t even know to kneel when I go in that part of the lab. Of course, I still shock them for fun when father lets me, but usually I’m told to leave them alone.”

 

“How...fun.”

 

“Yeah. Hey! You should come to labs with me sometime!” Lotor exclaimed, his light eyes sparkling with the thought of the mischief they could make there.

 

“W-What?! But, wouldn’t your father-”

 

“Nah, I’m sure it’ll be alright, besides, you’re his niece! You should be allowed access in. And when you do, I’ll show you around the entire place, all of my favorite spots included!”

 

Allura nodded weakly, praying that the day that she would have to enter the realm of her nightmares was far, _far_ away.

 

To her luck, it was. A new enhanced showed up and was brought in a few months after Allura and Lotor conversed about the possibility of showing Allura around the labs. Lotor told her that the new enhanced was a hot-head, (literally, he had had the ability to control fire and heat before he had been brought in,) and he caused constant trouble, trying to melt the glass, and the shock collars. They had spent a lot of money making him an extra thick collar, one that was extremely hard to melt through and that had a lot of voltage stored up in it, which would shock him periodically. They also had to replace a quite a few sets of fire resistant glass after he wouldn’t get the hint that he wasn’t allowed to do that.

 

There was a period of time where things calmed down with the enhanceds, and Allura’s introduction to the lab became a possibility again.

 

Then the fifth enhanced was brought in, and she lost her chance again. However, this enhanced hadn’t fought for several years like the fourth had, so she only had to wait for a year. And so came the fateful day, when she was thirteen, that she finally witnessed the horrors inside the dreaded facility.

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TF I V E ]**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura finally arrives at the place she has been dreading.
> 
> She sees the other side of the mirror, the mirror that was placed to be reflected, not seen through.
> 
> But she does.
> 
> Could she possibly gain the guts to shatter it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.
> 
> Sorry it's taken so long, I was debating whether or not I should have an update schedule.
> 
> And then I realized I suck at deadlines soooooo
> 
> Here's the chapter, anyways. I hope you enjoy!

“ALLURRAAAA!!!!” Lotor kicked open the door to her room with a bang, and Allura threw her book into the air.

 

“Gah! Lotor! Wh-what are you doing? You scared me half to death!” She exclaimed, putting her hand to her chest, where her heart struggled to stop beating so quickly.

 

He jumped forward, landing an inch from her face, his eyes shining as he shouted in her face, “There’s no time! Come on!” He dragged her by the hand from her chair.

 

“Hold on! Where are we going?” She asked timidly, as her cousin dragged her down the stairs and out the front door to a limo in the front of the house.

 

“We’re finally going to the Garrison! Father finally found the time to show you around! I mean, I’ll be the guide, but this is gonna be awesome! We can make fun of them together! Maybe, the guards will even let us feed them!”

 

“Oh….great.” She said timidly, trying to fake some joy into her voice. Lotor gave no notice, just kept on chattering happily as the limo pulled up to the Garrison’s front gate. There were some news vans hanging around, still trying to get a scoop on the enhanceds. There were also some college kids further down the block, probably discussing how cool and terrifying it would be if they snuck into the building and took a selfie in front of the enhanceds.

 

“License please,” came the monotone voice of a guard at the front gate. Lotor stuck his head out of the window and waved at him. “Mr. Gatsonis! I’m so glad you are here! Who is that with you in the limo?”

 

Lotor grinned at the guard, his cheerful demeanor foreign to his closest relative. _Was he really that overjoyed that she was coming?_

 

“This is my cousin! Allura Altavilla. She’s coming in with me today.” He said proudly, and loudly. A few reporters perked up at the Allura’s name, and gestured for the cameramen to lift up their lenses. There was suddenly a storm of reporters surrounding the car, as the lenses of the camera tried to peer inside of the darkened windows and the reporters shouted questions to deaf ears.

 

“Are you ready for a world of power?” Lotor’s half crazed voice snapped her out of her timid funk and scared her. He was looking to the Garrison’s shiny white, immaculate, window-less walls.

 

“A-a world of power? Lotor, what are you speaking of?” She asked, her voice curious despite the nauseating feeling growing deep inside of her.

 

_Don’t go in._ _Don’t go in. Don’t go in_.

 

That mantra spun throughout her head as they passed the second security gate, getting louder and louder as they continuously got closer to the doors.

 

_Don’t GO IN. Don’t GO IN._

 

Lotor ran ahead of her, opening the door for her like a gentlemen, grinning like a mad-man, then quickly stepping inside after her. Practically jumping up and down as he waited for the scientists to check that she wasn’t carrying any audio or visual equipment.

 

_DON’T GO IN._ **_DO NOT GO INSIDE THAT BUILDING FOR YOU SHALL REGRET IT._ **

 

(She ignored it. And she regretted it for some time. And then she didn’t.)

 

The Garrison was in a word….. _awe-inspiring_.

 

Stepping through the elevator doors onto the first floor, she was blown away by the numbers of animals in the room.

 

Capuchin monkeys, which were considered rare for their cleverness and easiness to train, took up a large enclosure in one corner of the room, chattering wildly, some females containing little capuchins hanging onto them tightly. **A few of them were solving a puzzle.**

 

“Oh my goodness, that’s amazing!” She said, seeing for the first time the greatness of the place. Lotor grinned at her.

 

“I know right! Come on, there’s so much more to see!”

 

Allura let herself be dragged to see a little hedgehog defend itself with poison tipped quills, a chinchilla jumping _hundreds_ of feet above her, a peacock with a beautiful array of purple, light pink, and dark blue feathers, another peacock, this one with red, orange, and yellow feathers, a snake with dragon like scales that had were colored yellow and orange with blue spikes arranged like a crown around it’s head and top of body. There were hundreds of animals that had been made more amazing, including a small common house cat with white wings flying through a small enclosure.

 

Of course, there were some terrifying times, like when a crocodile with camouflaging powers managed to escape it’s cage for a short period of time and they had had to evacuate for ten minutes while some scientists went after it. And the time when a small lion cub with razor sharp claws accidentally latched onto her dress. But other than that, she spent hours in the room with her cousin who was laughing and smiling at her happiness.

 

“I don’t understand! Why would the Garrison want to keep all of these things a secret? These are amazing animals!” She exclaimed to Lotor excitedly as she was finally dragged away from the room filled with animals. “They could open a zoo or something! Hundreds of people would come to see these amazing creatures, I know they would!”

 

Lotor rolled his eyes at her naïvety. “Allura. The Garrison is a military facility. I mean, it may not be a training ground for soldiers anymore, but it still serve a purpose for my father _and_ the military. My father buys directly from the Garrison then sells half of it’s products to the military, and the other half to who ever is interested.”

 

“But,” Allura said confusedly. “Then what is the point of animals being here?”

 

“Test subjects for new weapons and tortures.” Lotor said flippantly, not noticing when his cousin stiffened at the last word. “Now come on! This is my favorite part of the whole facility.”

 

The walked through a set of doors into an elevator. Lotor punched in a complicated code, and Allura only caught a few of the numbers, but they seemed to be completely random. The elevator beeped, locked it’s doors, then smoothly moved down the shaft, it’s floor options either the first floor, or the one they were headed for, E.

 

“E for enhanced?” She chuckled nervously. “Man, they are serious about that security, huh? Are you sure that they’ll let us in through the doors? Lotor, I mean, I’m just y-your cousin. I-I’m not that influential or anything-“

 

“It’s fine Allura, I’ve got this. I have VIP access to virtually anywhere. And if any guard complains, I can get them fired like _that_.” He said snapping his fingers loudly. Allura paled, but kept quiet and looked to one of the walls as the elevator neared it’s destination.

 

The room was spotless. That was the first thing Allura noticed. The second was that there were hundreds of guards in this two floored room. There were about three rooms in total, connected by stairs and catwalks. One of the rooms seemed to be part of the wall, with a long window, like the operating room of a sound booth. Another one of the rooms had a sign that said it was a medical bay. The third room was the big one, the room they were currently standing in. In the room, where five glass cubes, generally big.

 

In each glass ‘cage’ was an mechanism that acted like a sort of harbor lock, a flat pillow, a threadbare blanket, and a door with a hallway that connected each of the cages to a concealed room that Allura thought was a bathroom.

 

The subjects of each of these glorified cages were leaning against a wall, amusing themselves with a tablet device. One seemed to be muttering words in a language that Allura recognized as Spanish. And she also recognized the enhanceds from the pictures of that book so long ago.

 

“Lance.” She said aloud on accident, as Lotor shot her a confused look and Lance jolted at the mention of his name. His facial expression went from confusion to a grimace and disgust rather quickly.

 

“Oh. Lotor.” His name came from the boy’s mouth as though covered in poison. “Who’s your friend?”

 

“My cousin, you swine. Now,” He looked at Allura with glee. “We can make them do what ever we want. If I want him to kneel, he kneels. If I want that one over there to turn invisible, they do it. We have the power Allura. We have the power!”

 

Lance locked worried eyes with her, and Allura startled at the broken blue eyes that had haunted her for weeks after she had read that wretched book.

 

“Guys. Get ready. Lotor’s here.” He called to the others, who dropped their devices and walked straight up to the glass walls.

 

"What do you want, Lotor?” Said the fourth enhanced glaring at him so intensely, that Allura was surprised that Lotor’s skull didn’t melt under the heat of that gaze.

 

“Oh, is it time for us to become playthings again?” Asked the third enhanced, Pidge, the book had said their name was. “Because I’m getting real sick and tired of it.”

 

“Guys,” The fifth enhanced started, his grey eyes fixing on Lotor’s expression with worry. “Now isn’t the time. He-”

 

“Yes, bow down in submission to me, you animals. I am the one with the power here, and you do not have the option nor the ability to bargain with me.”

 

“We have the guts to try.” Lance said, his face turning to a snarl. “And that’s all we really need to live under the rule of scumbags like you.” He spit at the glass wall, and if it hadn’t been there, it would have hit Lotor in the eye. Lotor reddened then glared.

 

“Why you-you-little menace!” He roared, stalking forward and snapping his fingers for a guard to come forward. Allura backed up until she hit a machine behind her in fear, afraid of what her beloved cousin would do. Why was he doing this? Had he gone mad with power over these powerful beings? It seemed only seconds ago that he was laughing and cooing over the animals upstairs with her.

 

Allura wanted to run up to him, to grab his arm and say, “don’t do it. Lotor, I know you have a heart, do not do it!” But she didn’t. She just cowardly watched as Lotor’s sickening grin took up his face and he pressed the button on a remote.

 

Lance fell to the ground convulsing from the pulses of electricity. It was the first time that Allura noticed small Lichtenberg figures running up and down his neck from where the collar had been positioned. As she looked around, she saw more prominent ones on the fourth enhanced, and the fifth enhanced. She looked up to see the third enhanced, hitting the walls of their cage and screaming, “NO!”.

 

But she couldn’t hear his screams. Nor, the fifth enhanced’s pain as he tried in vain to reel back the crackling black power coming from his hands, the metal one and the real one.

 

She couldn’t hear the fourth enhanced throwing himself at the reinforced glass, desperate to make it to Lance’s cell and help him.

 

She didn’t see guards shock Pidge and pull them out of their cage.

 

But she did hear her sudden screams and what she shouted.

 

“NO PLEASE NO! PLEASE LET ME GO! LET ME GET TO LANCE! **DON’T KILL HIM!** ”

 

**_Kill him_ **

 

**_Kill him_ **

 

**_Kill_ **

 

**_K I L L_ **

 

Suddenly she was thrown back to the night when her mother was murdered. The night she had so desperately tried to forget.

 

And she had forgotten. Until now.

 

Allura had been three, and had snuck to her room to ask her mother for a bedtime snack. She didn’t see her mother, but instead saw a snowy owl land on the windowsill. She blinked, excited to see such a rare animal, especially in her house. Before she could make a move towards the owl, she tripped and fell on her face, being the clumsy little five year old that she was.

 

However, when she looked back up, she saw not the owl, but her mother, smiling down on her with a secretive smile.

 

“Mama!” Allura had cried joyously, excited to see one of her most favorite people in the world.

 

Her mother had picked her up, swinging her around in the darkened room. Her father had been out on a business trip, and Coran had gone home for the night with the rest of the staff.

 

It was just the two of them.

 

And then there was one.

 

Allura now distinctly remembered the moment when her mother had stiffened, when her mother had stopped swinging her darling daughter around, when Allura had looked up, confused as to why her mother had stopped-

 

And then she was dropped onto the bed. Face first.

 

Little Allura had gotten back up, confused and a little angry as to why the fun had ended so abruptly.

 

Then she saw her mother on the floor with something her arm. She hadn’t known at the time, but it was a dart.

 

Being a smart little three-year-old, she had called Coran, asking him to come play, because, “Mommy’s on the floor and she won’t get up.”

 

They had been too late.

 

Her mother had died. Her father was heartbroken to lose one of the people he had loved, and he still was. Her mother’s brother, Zarkon had been grieved for many weeks before he put the past behind him, and moved on in her memory. No one understood _why_. Why would someone kill her? The Altavilla family was incredibly wealthy, but not dangerous. It would have been easier to kidnap one of them and hold them hostage.

 

Maybe that had been their plan. To kidnap Allura or her mother. But then she had left that conversation between Coran and her father to go look for someone to feed her, and she had forgotten.

 

And now she remembered.

 

Allura felt dizzy and fell backwards, smacking her head against one of the knobs on the machine, and blacking out.

 

When she awoke, Allura could hear Lotor demanding to know why the frequency on the collar didn’t work anymore. There was a guard looking down on her, and although she couldn’t hear, she could see his lips asking something.

 

_Are you alright?_

 

_No_.

 

As she was helped to her feet, still unsteady and her head feeling like a sledgehammer had hit it at full force, she didn’t notice the fifth enhanced watching her, a sad look on his face, as though he had seen what she had seen. Before she could notice, the fourth enhanced shouted if Lance had died, and the fifth replied that he hadn’t, he would simply feel awful when he woke up, which would take a long time.

 

“Hey, ‘Llura. Y’wanna go see the torture chamber?” Lotor joyously asked her, not noticing her grimace of pain at his loud voice. “I mean, the collar lost its frequency or something, so now it’s no fun. They won’t let us try out the power sucking device because we might accidentally kill it if we screw around too much, but they still let us watch.”

 

Allura’s mouth felt dry as she tried to speak, but realized that she had been the one to shut off the frequency, when she hit her head on the knob. It had been unintentional, but she felt slightly better that she had helped in some way.

 

_But that isn’t_ **_enough_.**

 

“I’ll take that as a yes, so let’s go!" Lotor seemed like a child who had been granted a puppy for their birthday, not a young teenager ready to see a child younger than them _tortured_.

 

It was sickening, and she couldn’t bear to watch.

 

She lasted exactly two minutes of the screaming and pain before she collapsed again. Lotor called her a sissy for fainting so early on, but Allura made up a lie about eating something awful the day before, and it must have gotten to her now. Lotor was slightly disappointed that she had to go home so early, but he relented and a limo was waiting for her upstairs as she was escorted out by a guard.

 

When she was leaving out the front doors, however, she heard a few talking in whispered tones about the enhanceds.

 

“Man, I don’t think this is right. I mean, those kids, they’re the age of one of my kids back at home. It’s nice that they have the ability to learn what they desire, but that isn’t payment for their pain.”

 

The other man nodded. “It’s awful. And of course, there are tens of societies that try to band together every now and then to protest the treatment of the enhanceds, but because no one can back up what goes on in there, the claims always die out. Hell, people only know what the first three enhanceds look like because of Dr. Zalkalns’ book on the purpose of the Garrison.”

 

“Like that isn’t a load of baloney, that thing is so biased….” The men’s voices faded away as she went farther and farther down the hallway.

 

“I hope you feel better ma’am.” The guard said, as she shakily got into the limo.

 

“Th-thank you sir,” she replied, shaky, and feeling as though she was about to puke. She probably was.

 

“Where to, Miss Altavilla?” The driver asked, his shades the only thing she could see in the rearview mirror.

 

“Altavilla Manor, please.” She said with a sort of finality, before falling into a silent stupor for the rest of the trip back.

 

The driver dropped her off in front of her house, where Coran was waiting.

 

Oh, Coran. He was so sweet, so worried that she was incredibly sick, offering to call the doctor to the manor for her.

 

She shook her head, and went up the stairs to her room, locking the bathroom door behind her.

 

There, she spent the next hour crying, and puking as she tried to forget the events of the afternoon.

 

_Why can’t I forget? Why can’t I forget? Why can’t I forget? Why can’t I forget?_

 

_“Because I’m not going to,”_ She realized.

 

_I cannot just sit by and let those tortures continue. I refuse to. I have proof of what happened in there. I can sue the Garrison._

 

She cheered up slightly, realizing that she could have some merit from that awful experience. But then she remembered the words of the guards. “‘ _there are tens of societies that try to band together every now and then to protest the treatment of the enhanceds, but because no one can back up what goes on in there, the claims always die out.’”_

 

She stood up shakily, staring at the mirror as she racked her brain for any idea. Any idea at all to help. To get those subjects out, to freedom.

 

Allura didn’t realize until she met her own gaze, but she had slowly been turning into the fifth enhanced. Her right arm had a metal sheen as her mind slowly tried to remember how the boy had looked. She narrowed her eyes at her new form.

 

_No more hiding_.

 

She spent the next hour practicing changing into people she had seen or met. Faster and faster, more and more detailed, until she was an exact match in height, look, weight and even voice.

 

And...it was actually kind of fun.

 

Turning into Coran, giggling at the enormous mustache that he sported. Turning into her father and growing herself a beard.

 

Then turning back into herself. That was the one form that she couldn’t edit. She always looked exactly like herself, all of her flaws, with her slightly crooked smile, and the annoying way her hair threw itself in the morning.

 

It was her.

 

And her family should accept her, for who she was.

 

Now was just the issue of how to approach her powers.

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TS I X ]**


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura comes clean, gains a few allies and finally puts the plan of justice into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyyy it's ya trickster.
> 
> AceTrickster.
> 
> (Cause that's my name)
> 
> *cue awkward silence* ....anyways-
> 
> I have been writing ahead for sometime, just so I can get a feel for doing such a thing. I currently finished part 10 /just/ now, so I thought, "here, I'll post."
> 
> (You probably shouldn't expect this to become a habit)
> 
> (Or maybe you'll be lucky and it will become a habit, who knows.)

A few weeks later, she received her chance.

 

“Allura, could you come to my study for a moment,” Alfor called his daughter, not looking up from his book as she entered the room. “I found something else about the enhanceds from the second World War, I thought that since you had done some research on it, you might want to do it now-” He looked up to see not Allura, but one of the enhanceds from the book published by the Garrison scientist.

 

“Uhhh?” Alfor Altavilla was not the type of person to be stunned silent, but this had done it. He wasn’t afraid necessarily, but rather confused. “Can I help yo-”

 

He was cut off as the features of the boy’s face changed and switched as their body type did as well. Now they looked like one of the servants, same height, same build, same details. Then they turned into Coran, and grinned, making it near impossible to tell from an outsider’s view that they were not actually Coran.

 

Alfor was incredibly confused as the being- no, _person_ , in front of them continuously switched forms. He saw people he had only glimpsed, people that Allura had pointed out as her classmates, and he saw reporters and then an enhanced again.

 

“If I may inquire,” He said suddenly, not wanting to come off as rude. “Who are you, and are you seeking refuge from the Garrison?”

 

The enhanced before him smiled sadly, then slowly turned into Allura.

 

“Sorry father.” She said, her voice sad. “I didn’t know how else to break it to you.”

 

Alfor was shocked, completely shocked. Allura took a shuddery breath and continued.

 

“Do you remember that awful week when I was sick five years ago? I wouldn’t come out of my room, I wouldn’t let you call a doctor, I wouldn’t let any of you into my room, and you were all so desperately worried. I am sorry I scared you so badly, but that was when it first started.”

 

Alfor finally found his voice, and shakily spoke, “When w-what started?”

 

Allura smiled sadly, sad that she had to break the news to him like this. “I started to turn into my mother.” Alfor slumped backwards, his head in his hands as he momentarily overtaken by grief again.

 

“I started...to turn into my mother. The last image of her that I had seen. After her, came everyone else. Coran, Lotor, Zarkon, Alice, Samantha, Thomas, Adrien, you, and so many others. I didn’t know what to do, so I hid in my room until it was finally over. It was only recently that I tried it out again. And it was because…”

 

“You went to the Garrison.” Alfor finished, a grim look on his face. “You saw...what was in there.”

 

Allura gave a shaky nod. “Oh father. I was so terrified!” And for the first time since she had gone in weeks ago, she recounted the horrifying tale.

 

She babbled on and on while tears ran down her face and her father hugged her and whispered, “It’s alright, it’s alright,” over and over.

 

Finally she finished, then confessed to him that she had been avoiding Lotor recently, but thankfully, he hadn’t noticed.

 

“He’s….so dense. He doesn’t ever notice what’s going on around him. He’s has no empathy whatsoever. And I hate it. I want to be different. I _am_ different. I hope you can understand.”

 

To Allura’s relief, her father silenced her with a single hug. She stood there, surprised for a moment before hugging him back.

 

“I would never hate you Allura. Know that I am with you wherever you stand, and I would follow you to heaven and back a million times over.” He said to her, and her eyes gave into the tears she had been holding back for so long.

 

Coran was easier to tell, particularly because Alfor warned him that what was coming was shocking, but not horrible in any way.

 

So while Coran did cry slightly at the sight of the deceased Mrs. Altavilla, he accepted Allura with no qualms about her powers. (“Why would I be disgusted by your powers? They are amazing! Imagine the pranking opportunities!”).  He had always been exceptionally cheerful about everything, no matter the situation.

 

But he could get down to business just as easily.

 

“So, your plan is to somehow, get all of those enhanceds out.” Coran mused, leaning back in a chair, twirling a pencil, and making a random face. Despite his comical appearance, Allura and Alfor both knew that Coran was thinking hard on all of the connections he had with people to help the cause. He was a natural-born maven when it came to all information and connections. He knew everyone, all the deals, all the information needed to pull anything off, whether it was a product ready to hit the shelves, or an escape plan.

 

“Yes.” Allura replied, more sure about this than anything else she had ever done. “I’m sick of watching people act like these enhanceds are monsters. They did nothing wrong, and they shouldn’t be treated like this!”

 

Coran fixed his gaze on Allura. “Well….you might be slightly wrong there. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the first enhanced attack a boat?”

 

Allura threw her hands up exasperatedly, as Alfor quickly answered, “Well...yes, but before he came along, hundreds of storms took the lives of many people. Besides, he was a child, not knowing the difference between good and bad. And when the military came after him, he didn’t hurt a single one, there wasn’t a single scratch on any of them.”

 

Coran nodded his head. “Alrighty then. That was my main point of concern in my master plan.”

 

“You have a plan?! Please Coran, do tell us what it is we must do for justice!” Allura switched from exasperated to estatic in the matter of a sentence. She rushed over to the desk and pulled out a pen and notepad to take notes on, knowing from experience that Coran would speak quickly and she would need to write it all down before he forgot it.

 

“I believe that what we need to do is prove a point.” Coran said.  “To do that, we will need to first reveal that Allura herself is an enhanced.”

 

Allura dropped her pen. “Hold on a minute Coran, reveal herself? To who?”

 

“The world.”

 

“The world! Coran, I have trusted you for many years but I do not think I can do that. Allura has only just opened up her secret with us now! Think of the backlash we would receive from the public!” Alfor shouted, his worry evident on his face.

 

“Exactly. Shocked backlash. Everything that Allura does is public, due to publicity. Her grades, her mannerisms, her actions, everything is thrown to the public for them to judge, and they all love her and the Altavilla family. To reveal that Allura _herself_ is one of those so called ‘monsters’ would completely change all of the views of the public. In addition to that, I propose we open up an academy one we get enough followers.” Coran replied confidently.

 

“An academy? For what?” Allura asked, finally regaining the ability to speak. The idea of revealing herself to everyone had flabbergasted her.

 

Coran looked her directly in the eye. “Altavilla Academy for Adapts. A school for enhanceds.”

 

“What? Like a version of Hogwarts?” Allura laughed slightly, then slowed her frantic train of thought and actually listed the pros and cons in her head. “Wait….this might actually work…”

 

“I agree. Society will most likely not be able to adapt to the idea of enhanceds in their society, so to make them somewhat happier, we could make a safe learning place for them. But why a school Coran, there’s plenty of room for the five of them and Allura.” Alfor stated, confused when Coran shook his head at his employer and best friend.

 

“There’s more than six enhanceds in the world. There are probably about two hundred out there now-” Alfor choked on his own air.

 

“T-two hu-hundred?” He gasped before coughing, causing Allura to run over and hit him on his back a few times.

 

“Coran, how do you know these things? I only knew that there were five because the Garrison always parades them around, but how do you know about all of the others?” Allura asked, her eyes wide at the prospect of more children, teenagers, adults who were all trying to hide their abilities for fear of being found.

 

Coran gave a sad smile. “Because I met one.” The Altavillas stared at him as he looked wistfully into the distance.

 

“It must have been about five years ago. Alfor, do you remember that trip we took to Ireland?” Alfor nodded silently, his mouth agape. “It was then. I was walking out around the coast, watching the shore smash up against the rocks when a voice came from behind me. ‘Peaceful, ain’t it?’ I turned to see a boy with short, light brown hair, a light gray leather jacket and old aviator goggles, about but looking as though he was a hundred years older. ‘It’s always been like this.’ I asked him, if he lived here. He shook his head. I asked him to explain, why did he say it had always been like this if he didn’t live here. He said to me, ‘Do you promise not to panic?’ I promised. He looked at me, and then he was gone. He appeared behind me. I turned and he appeared at my right. He told me that he had the power to run faster than the eye could see if he wanted. He could run so fast he could change the trajectory for bullets. And yet, he wasn’t fast enough.” Coran lowered his head, looking down at the floor, hiding the pain he felt.

 

"He told me that he lost his only family, his younger sibling. They were all they had left but they were unable to see the signs that they were in danger. Despite being so fast, they were too slow. After that, the boy asked me, ‘What if there was a place for others like me to be safe? To not have to worry about being caught by the Garrison, to grow up, and have the same childhoods as the rest of society, simply with powers as an added part of life?’ I asked him what he would do if such a place like that was built and he had smiled for the first time since I met him. ‘Finally be home.’ And he vanished, the only thing indicating his departure being the morning grass parted by the wind of his speed. And, a note.”

 

“What did the note say?” Allura eagerly inquired. To know that there were others like her, hiding out there, it was a phenomenal thought!

 

“All it depicted was a list of addresses, shops, clubs, all over the world. Every now and then, I get a new note in my office. Each one has more and more offices. And I,” Coran gestured widely with his arms. “I follow each and every address. I meet each and every enhanced. Not all are friendly towards me, fearful of the Garrison, but I meet them, I find them, and I track them. I tell them that ‘The Wind’ sent me. They always know what I mean.”

 

“Coran,” Alfor said slowly, as he was still trying to catch up with all of the information being revealed to him for the first time. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

 

“I was afraid that you might fire me. Afraid you would turn me away because of my opinions. But I was wrong to be afraid. I only hope now that you will stand with me as we finally do something to help that the hundreds of cowards haven’t done yet!” He finished, a triumphant gleam in his eyes. “Are you with me?”

 

Allura cheered, as Alfor smiled widely and gave a nod. “Then let us get started!”

 

Hours laters, Allura had a long and complicated list that consisted of their plan:

 

  1. **_CONTACT THE BLADE OF MARMORA  
_**
  2. **_See what their plans are for helping us (bribery if needed, they’re a secretive bunch)  
_**
  3. **_Engage plan! (more time needed to set up plan!)  
_**
  4. **_As the plan takes action, host a meeting with the reporters of the world (maybe at a charity ball to gain more attention?)  
_**
    1. **_Allura reveals her secret  
_**
  5. **_After they get out, announce that they will build a school for the enhanceds  
_**
  6. **_Go recruit the enhanceds._**



 

It was a fairly simple plan, and that what was worrying Allura. No plan was that simple, and it rarely ever went right. Still, she had to trust Coran with this, as she had thus far.

 

Meeting the Blade of Marmora was….terrifying. Allura had been told to stay behind as her father and Coran went to meet them, but she had been allowed to watch through the hidden camera in Coran’s hood. She had jumped at every single shaky shadow in the darkened alley and had even given a short scream when the Blade themselves appeared.

 

The main leader’s name had been Kolivan and he was a _giant_. He and the others wore darkened capes with hoods, black gloves, and black mardi gras masks, the kinds you would have seen decades ago. He was extremely tall and he held himself as though he controlled the fate of the world. Ironically, he did.

 

“You want the Blade, to join you in a rescue mission?” Kolivan snorted. “And for what cause? So you can turn them into your own personal lab rats? People like that disgust me.” He spat on the sidewalk to emphasize his hatred.

 

“Nothing like that,” Alfor assured him. “We want to do something, instead of hiding in the shadows like the rest of the world. We want to free the Garrison’s subjects and find the rest of the enhanceds of the world to build a school where they can finally have the same ‘normal’ life that everyone else takes for granted.”

 

Kolivan raised an eyebrow behind his mask. “So. You plan on building a school. Anything else you would like the admit ahead of time so we can incorporate it into the plan.”

 

 

“So you agree to help us?” Coran asked eagerly.

 

Kolivan shook his head. “We have a few conditions to settle with you first. First, that _all_ enhanceds get an automatic opening to your school. Two, that all students, of all ages are accepted.”

 

“Done and done.” Alfor agreed quickly, but Kolivan held up a gloved hand. “Three. That we get to speak to the enhanceds before you do.” Alfor hesitated.

 

The point of the entire rescue mission was not only to save the abused teenagers, but to also give them a taste of normal life without receiving too much stress. If the Blade of Marmora told the enhanceds how bad things were in reality, they might lose any bit of sanity. Who knew what those disgusting scientists had told those children?

 

“Deal, but! We need to go over what you plan on telling them first. We don’t want to give them a psychological damage on top of the shock of becoming free.” Coran butted in.

 

Kolivan thought for a moment then nodded. “It sounds logical. What other aspects of the plan should we know about beforehand?”

 

“We plan on…” Coran and Alfor proceeded to spend the next hour explaining to the Blades the rough sketch of their plan. The Blades agreed to meet at the Altavilla Manor for the next meeting so they could plan better on an actual white board.

 

The planning went on for months, and as they ventured closer and closer towards their goal, the Blades and the Altavillas trusted each other more and more.

 

Then came the fateful day. The day of the escape. The day of the failure. The day of the release. The day of truth.

 

June. Twenty-fourth.

 

The day it all went to hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It had been a year since the day Allura had gone into that disgusting laboratory at the urging of her cousin. Things had changed greatly since then.

 

She and Lotor had spoken very briefly and very little since then, and only if they happened to be grouped up for a project at the private school, (which was incredibly rare) or if they met at an event concerning both of their families (which was even rarer).

 

Lotor had changed for the worse, She, for the better.

 

Lotor had gone in a downwards spiral, becoming more and more cruel with each passing day. It didn’t help that a scandal finally revealed his true parentage. His mother was revealed as the top scientist at the Garrison but that didn’t create any sudden familial love. If anything, it made his condition worse. He refused to listen to anyone except his father, and he despised his mother who was just as cruel towards people and animals as Zarkon, her uncle.

 

Lotor got so out of hand that he was subjected to a reform school for a few months. He came back, better mannered, but his attitude was nasty. The only people who really hung around Lotor were a bunch of moronic boys, who further fueled his reputation as a delinquent.

 

Allura herself thought that the beginning of her ascent was the day she revealed her secret to her loved ones and when the Blade of Marmora started helping her hope for a better come true.

 

One of Kolivan’s soldiers went by the name of Thace, and it was him who fully helped Allura come out of her shell.

 

He recognized the power not behind her abilities, but behind _her_. He offered her combat and defense training, and she took him onto his suggestion. She evolved from a timid, afraid thirteen-year-old to a confident, strong fourteen-year-old. It was quite mind blowing for some of her old “friends” who would take advantage of her shyness to make her do things for them, to see Allura snapping back and walking off on her own. Allura Altavilla, who was a follower for so many years became independent in the span of winter break! The thought was amazing.

 

Her reputation was trashed fairly quickly after she left the group she had been with initially, but just as quickly, she rose to popularity because she was amazing. Of course, she did have a few flaws, such as her incredibly short temper at injustice that no one could explain, but those flaws were overlooked.

 

Allura Altavilla was loved, her cousin, Lotor Gatsonis, despised, and thus the battleground for June twenty-fourth was set for the destruction (or creation) of society’s standards.

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TS E V E N ]**


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan is put into motion.  
> Hopefully everything goes well and the world will accept those who have been suppressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, today: Oh nothing new's gonna be going on-  
> Me: *sees trailer*  
> Me: *drops everything to write for an hour, breaking down the /entire/ trailer and theorizing.*  
> Also me: uploads a chapter to be nice.
> 
> if the blade seems it's a little OC, fight me, I felt like it. This is a secret society that hasn't really gotten the chance to go out on missions, so they're still kind of amateurs.

“Allura,” came a drawling voice behind her.

 

Allura internally grimaced as she replied without turning around in an even voice, “Hello, cousin.”

 

“Aww, now. There’s no reason to be so _ignorant_ about our relationship, ‘Llura?”

 

“Ignorant?” Allura asked evenly, now realizing that they were in a vacant, dim hallway, far away from the rest of the student body. _Not good_ , She thought to herself, preparing for a fight.

 

“Don’t deny that you’ve been _ignoring me Allura_ ,” He hissed seeming slightly hysterical as he stalked forward and forcing her to move backwards until she hit the wall. “Ever since I took you to the Garrison, my life has been _shit_. What did you do? I know you did something! You’ve been avoiding me as though you have something to hide.”

 

Allura stared up at his violet eyes, now noticing the extremes of his awful appearance. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was all over the place, not gelled like it usually was, and his voice sounded strange.

 

“Lotor.” She whispered, suddenly very afraid for him. “What’s going on? I swear to you I haven’t done anything to mess up your life.” _Yet_ , she added internally.

 

Lotor realized that his cousin was genuinely concerned for him and backed away from her, giving her breathing room and falling back against the wall. In the dim light she could only see his broken look as he gazed at nothing in particular.

 

“Lotor.” She whispered again, moving forward and crouching down so he would meet her gaze. “What’s going on? You can trust me?”

 

He took a shaky breath, as though he was about to cry. Which was ridiculous, Lotor Gatsonis _never_ cried for anything. “It’s my mother. I don’t know w-who revealed her as my missing parent, but she’s she-she’s awful.”

 

“What do you mean awful?” Allura asked, knowing that she and Lotor had not spoken in a long time, so their definitions of hardships _may_ have changed drastically since the last time they spoke freely.

 

“She’s...making me partake in something...I can’t say what. She...she promised to kill me if I say anything more.”

“Kill you?” Allura cried, moving forward hugging Lotor’s frame. “Oh god, then what she’s doing has to be serious! Lotor, if you’re that afraid of her and if she threatened you, what she’s doing must be wrong! Did you tell your father?”

 

“He knows and he agrees with her!” Lotor snapped shoving her arms away from him. “He loves the idea of turning his only son into a mon-” He quickly snapped his mouth shut, and turned away, hiding his face in his arms.

 

“Lotor. I think that maybe you should stay a little while with me-” Allura said, thinking about the Blade members who would love to have some inside information on the Garrison’s layout and how it may have changed in the time that she had visited. She felt slightly bad about using her cousin, but as an added bonus, it would get him away from his deranged parents. Before she could continue, he cut her off.

 

“Look, Allura. I know your ways. You’re perfect. Everyone loves perfect.” His voice had gone from the shaky, scared teenager to the violent, poisonous delinquent everyone knew him as. “But the thing about perfect?” He leaned in, forcing her to look at his eyes and-oh god. Was if just the lighting or had his eyes turned yellow? Their hypnotic gaze pinned her down as she was immobilized and listened to the awful words coming out of her dear cousin’s mouth. “It always,” he whispered. “Always has flaws. And those flaws are what get you _killed_.”

 

“See you tonight, **_cuz_**.” Lotor Gatsonis shoved Allura Altavilla away, and walked through the darkened hallway as though he owned the shadows cowering in the corners.

 

Allura knew that he had become her enemy.

 

But before that?

 

He had been her family.

 

And she didn’t turn back on family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allura fidgeted in the gender neutral clothing she had picked for the charity ball. The clothing was a suit top with a dark blue jacket and that turned into a dark blue skirt that had an opening in the front and had a longer drag in the back.

 

The clothes themselves weren’t uncomfortable, and they were far better than most other clothes she had had to wear to other events. She would even go so far as to say she would wear the outfit again, outside of the event.

 

No, she was fidgeting because she was nervous about the outcome of tonight.

 

The charity ball planned for tonight was a masquerade ball with the theme, “indifference”. This would make it easy for her to slip unnoticed past the guests and bring messages to the hidden Blade members who were stationed for damage control. No one knew how everyone would react when Allura revealed her “imperfection” so they put in some precautions.

 

Still, it was slightly nerving for her to duck behind pillars of the great hall they were using for the event, quickly switch gender and facial details, and then dash back out again as someone she had seen before.

 

She was incredibly lucky that she had had a say in the matter of the servants clothing, so it made it incredibly easy for her to switch between Blade members.

 

“Any issue?” One of them asked her, leaning against one of the walls with a flute of champagne that they had accepted from him, meaning, Allura. He brushed his short blonde hair out of his eyes and shook his head. “Not yet,” He replied in a young voice. “We still have a bit of time left, however, so we may run into some issues.” The Blade soldier nodded. “Right. That’s to be expected.”

 

Allura nodded his head and then moved behind a pillar, switching to back to a female as they continued walking towards the next soldier.

 

When she had finished all of her rounds and returned to her father and Coran, she paused, trying to catch her breath.

 

“You alright, Allura?” Coran asked her, turning his worried gaze on her. She was breathing quite heavily from the extreme usage of her power.

 

“Y-yes. I..think...I’m alright.” She took in another deep breath. “I’m ready. Is the rest of the Blade ready for the extraction?”

 

“Yes, ready and raring to go.” He responded.

 

“Let us begin. Attention everyone!” She announced to the chattering crowd below.

 

The crowd of socialites, millionaires, business owners actresses and actors, directors, governors, event organizers, reporters, media, cameramen, servants, and high ranking nobles quieted down and gave their full attention to the girl in the blue outfit.

 

And Allura’s throat went completely dry. She had spoken to a big crowd before, sure, on hundreds of different occasions, but never one like this. And this would be the first time she made an announcement of this importance. She didn’t even really have a script! Oh god, what if she said the wrong thing and offended someone, causing her family’s business to fail? What if she made things worse for the future? What if-

 

She steeled her nerves, reminding herself of why she had decided to push forward and clear up the future for the hundreds of others like her.

 

_“Do it for the beautiful boy with broken gray eyes who knows so much pain,”_ She reminded herself. _“Do it for the boy with the fiery will to survive. Do it for the shy boy who knew the meaning of strength but was never able to do it. Do it for the child who never understood the meaning of life other than pain. Do it for the boy who lives for freedom but never reached it.”_

 

_“Do it for the shy girl who has evolved into_ _me_.” She caught the eye of her scowling cousin in the crowd below her, wearing a lilac suit.

 

“ _Do it for the future_.”

 

“Let us play a game, and tell a story in one.” Allura announced, catching the eye of a socialite in the crowd. “You there, shout out your name and give the name of someone famous. Perhaps even someone in this room. However, it cannot be me or you.”

 

“Sonja Meyers!” The women below replied, as the rest of the crowd struggled to understand what Allura Altavilla was playing at. “And I choose… Denise Park, the lovely actress!” Denise, who was in the crowd, preened at the sudden attention she received.

 

“All right then.” Allura replied, internally sighing that everyone’s attention was still on her. “Let me tell a story. Ten fateful years ago, on this day, we received reports of the first enhanced since 1944, a year before World War II ended. A boy, no older than three was discovered dancing atop the surface of the water.”

 

Allura moved from her spot next to her father and Coran, who smiled encouragingly at her as she made her way down the steps, still telling the story of change.

 

“The people who discovered the little boy were aboard the ship, a simple fishing boat, out for sport. Instead of fish, they found the catalyst for a new age.” Allura reached the bottom step of the platform and started to make her way towards the crowd.

 

“They called the beloved Garrison, who were quick to appear on the scene of panic and soon apprehended the enhanced. Two years after that, they received more reports. These depicted a child with plants in their hair and growing around their arms who could vanish into the forest like no assassin ever could. They continually returned to a park in Cuba, where they were eventually caught. No one ever discovered why they continually returned to that one spot and gazed out at the water.”

 

Allura made her way through the crowd, trying to make her way to the front doors, as though she was planning on showing them a surprise. In a way, she was, but she was also preparing to run, should this get ugly. The cameras focused on her as she passed them, then quickly adjusted their angles to continue to show her face to the viewers at home.

 

“A year or so later, a nine-year old boy was found wandering the mountains, and helped a poor little village move an enormous boulder that was blocking the road. He turned that rock to dust.”

 

By now many of the people around her were quietly muttering to themselves, as they were all well situated with the history of the enhanceds. Allura hurried on with her speech. “A year later, a boy exploded multiple volcanoes simultaneously, underwater and above. And two years ago, we discovered a boy, floating in space who could turn invisible.

 

We know of these famous five enhanceds. We believe that they are the only enhanceds in the world, no?” She made eye contact with several people in the crowd, who were all nodding along.

 

“No. They are not the only enhanceds in the world.” She said, turning into Denise Park.

 

There was a long moment of silence. Then Allura spoke again.

 

“This is the boy who longs for the freedom of the ocean.” She turned into Lance, as she had last seen him. She heard several gasps as others saw the Litchenberg figures on Lance’s arms and the small scars around his neck.

 

She took a breath then changed her height to Pidge. “This is the child who knows life but not of it’s purpose.” She heard several people breathe heavily, and sped up, knowing there would be an outbreak sooner or later. “This is the boy who knows of strength.” The third enhanced’s form. “The boy’s whose fiery will to survive passes everything else.” The fourth enhanced. “And the boy whose invisibility failed him.” The last enhanced, this form, she lingered on as she talked, slowly, slowly turning back into herself.

 

“What is with this society?” She asked, her voice growing louder as her hair elongated and turned back to its unusual white and her frame shrunk. “The word enhanced translates to further improve quality, yet we treat these amazing people, these amazing _children_ like monsters! _Why?_ ” She shouted at the crowd, who was staring at her, too shocked to answer.

 

“I’ll tell you why,” came a voice. Lotor pushed his way through the crowd. “Because they’re freaks! They’re different so they might as well be put to a _purpose_.” He hissed at her.

 

Allura glared at him. “Everyone is different. That’s why we made the theme of the event _indifferenceI_ , moron. Because despite our differences, we’re willing to look past them to create a better world. Is that not what we did with the different races hundreds of years ago, what we did with the religions, with the LGBTQA+ community?!?” She shouted at him.

 

“THERE IS NO PURPOSE IN HOLDING PEOPLE APART, TO TREAT THEM LIKE LESSER BEINGS JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT!” Allura’s voice echoed through the otherwise silent room and out into the summer night, as though the world was surprised that _someone_ had finally spoken the long hidden truth.

 

At that exact moment, when people in the room started shouting “She’s right!” “No, she isn’t!“ ”What does she know, she’s a child herself!”, Allura was grabbed by a Blade and hauled out of the room as Lotor lunged for her.

 

At that moment, the Garrison’s doors were blown open.

 

Five children who had all suffered, finally made it to freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

**2100 Hundred Hours**

 

The Garrison’s occupants slowly winding down, making their rounds, checking up on their subjects, filling out forms as they yawned and reached for their long empty coffees. The guards were slowly making their rounds, not really expecting anything to come and so they played soft music as they walked the circles they had walked a thousand times before.

 

The enhanceds? They were all asleep. They had been knocked unconscious from the day’s experimentation, some machines nearby steadily taking their pulses and heart beats as the night went on.

 

And above it all, The Blade of Marmora.

 

The Blade’s history was not a pretty one. It consisted of many assassinations and murders before they turned over a leaf for the better. “To kill those who were not in need is a sin.” The senior officers decreed. “Take no shit, but do no harm,” was what the younger officers called it.

 

The Blade of Marmora often took government jobs when the government officials themselves couldn’t finish the job. Often times, it was for a rescue mission or an intelligence job.

 

This job, the one they had taken up almost a year ago, was the one that held the most significance for them.

 

When Altavilla first contacted them, they had expected a typical blackmail operation. They quickly discovered that it was _nothing_ like they expected. It wasn’t out of their expertise, no, but what would come afterwards would change the entire fate of the world.

 

The Altavillas wanted them to rescue the five enhanced subjects from the Garrison Laboratories.

 

There was a lot refinement that went into the plan, but they never strayed from their goal.

 

_“We don’t want to simply save them,” Kolivan had explained to Alfor and Allura one day, after Allura asked why they continuously made changed to the simple plan. “If we took them out of the Garrison, that would fully push the public to hatred and panic. Those five enhanceds would never be able to experience peace and they would be hunted for the entirety of their life. The best thing to help everyone out, would be to not only free the enhanceds, but to also expose all of the Garrison’s flaws and misdoings. Let the disgust be directed at the Garrison, rather than the enhanceds.”_

 

And now here they were. One of the young Blade soldiers let out a deep breath as they attempted to erase all nerves. “Stay strong men,” murdered one of the captains of the two teams into the microphone. “Team one, head into the ventilation systems and wait for Team two’s signal. Team two, make sure to stay away from all and any personel in the building, scientist or guard alike.”

 

The other captain nodded, before signaling for his team to move forward.

 

The group of seven rushed for the fence and scaled it as quickly and quietly as possible. They made their way towards one of the building walls, avoiding all camera viewings they had memorized from the map.

 

Finally, they made it to the wall, and scaled it, and reached the rooftop where they attached several ropes. Then the second team made their way to the wall and hauled themselves and their equipment up as well.

 

Several minutes later, both teams were in position and making their way to the area containing the enhanceds.

 

“Team One, you have a green light for the extraction,” a crackly but soft voice entered the ears of Team One who had been patiently waiting for the second team’s signal. Team Two had run into some trouble with a guard, but they had made their way in and then locked the door, as if someone forgot to unlock the door before closing it. No one would suspect a thing.

 

“Let’s move men!” Replied the captain, and the seven people made their way through the vents as quickly and silently as they could, refraining from swearing when they hit their head on the roof of the vent.

 

“Stay clear of the sides!” Barked the captain after one of the soldiers smacked their head against the metal sheet for the _fifth_ time. At that exact moment, one of the metal platings on the bottom creaked and the soldier on top panicked and backed up, causing the soldier behind them to smack their head on the roof.

 

Some truly vulgar cursing filled the small space as the soldier sheepishly replied, “I _may_ have nicked the side.”

 

“Why do I always get the rookies?” The captain groaned. “Captain! I think we actually found the room!” One of the soldiers excitedly exclaimed. “The metal that just came loose, that’s one of the vents running over the enhanceds’ room! Team Two just informed me of it!”

 

“Why didn’t they tell me?” The captain demanded.

 

“Your mic fritzed out. Anyways, Team Two told us to go ahead and prepare the sedatives should they panic.”

 

“Understood. Men, attempt to sneak in as silently as you can. We don’t know if there are guards in patrolling.”

 

Silently, the seven soldiers lowered themselves and their equipment into the room, stun guns out and ready to shoot the guards should they appear. Lucky for them, the guards had left, deciding to head home early instead of wasting their night walking hundreds of circles.

 

While two of the soldiers checked out the rest of the room to figure out the where to put the little “gift”, the four others and the captain attempted to figure out how to reach the enhanceds in their glass prisons.

 

“How-” one of the soldiers grunted, pulling at the top of the cage as though it was stubborn lid on a jar. “Do they feed these guys?!”

 

“I think they use that machine that locks one side before opening the other to give them food. For all we know, they haven’t tasted fresh air from the _room_ since they were thrown in there!” Another replied.

 

“Dammit! That’s disgusting! They aren’t animals!” Another one of the soldiers said, slamming their fist against the glass out of anger.

 

Everyone near him froze as he realized what he had done. He slowly turned to see the newest enhanced, the fifth one, blearily sit up and rub his eyes before he focused his gaze on the soldier.

 

“Uhh…” The soldier said stupidly. “Hi. Um. What’s your name.”

 

The fifteen-year-old boy stared at him, as though he was trying to recall what his name was. “Um. I think it’s...Shiro.” The boy replied, his voice hoarse, as though he had spent most of his voice screaming. “What’s yours?”

 

“I...go by Thace.” the soldier stammered. “Listen, we’re here to get you out. We can’t figure out how to get you out without blowing up the glass and that would hurt you, so we don’t want to do that.”

 

Shiro blinked, as though surprised that someone out in the world cared enough to come and rescue them. “Oh.” He replied lamely. “Well, even if you did pull us out of our little glorified cages, we would still be shocked by our stupid collars. We need to turn off the frequency.”

“Great.” Thace replied, secretly ecstatic that they were getting some information on how to get them out. “How do we turn off the frequency?”

 

Shiro thought for a moment. “I’m pretty sure that… there was a girl two years ago….she hit her head on one of the knobs of that machine over there-” he pointed at a nearby white machine with several knobs and screens. “And it turned off Lance’s collar. It was labeled 1, so I’m assuming that if you turn off all five, then it may turn off the collars. Then we can get out of the building easier.”

 

Thace nodded, then walked over to the machine that Shiro had pointed to and turned all of the knobs labeled one through five off. The instant he did so, the blue pulsing light on Shiro’s collar, indicating that it was functioning, switched off.

 

Shiro sighed a breath of relief. “Oh good.”

 

Thace approached him again. “Do you know how to get into the your cages?” He asked, hoping desperately that Shiro might have some idea to help them move the operation more quickly.

 

“The guards... they open the glass panel in the hallways between our cages and use them to pull us out of our cages for the...extractions.” Shiro dropped his eyes. “That glass seems to be a lot weaker than the glass they use for our walls.” He said, knocking his fingers against the glass. “Plus, they’re all connected to each of the cells. I would recommend that as the easiest way to get us out.”

 

Thace nodded, and turned to his captain, who called for the others to come back.

 

“Did you find the right spot for the bomb?” The captain asked. The two soldiers who came back nodded.

 

“North west corner of the room. Judging from the blue prints, it should bring the entire place down.”

 

Thace turned back to Shiro. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We’re going to have to drug you to make it easier to smuggle you out. We’re more trained with unconcious personnel, but we don’t want to have one of you panic and flail out with your powers. We’re taking precautions, and I hope you don’t hate us for taking precautions.”

 

Shiro stared at the man with his dark grey eyes, as though peering into Thace’s soul before nodding.

 

Within minutes, the sedatives had been administered to each of the enhanceds and a soldier was assigned for the absolute safety of each one. In addition to that, the bomb was place and ready for ignition.

Quickly, the Blade of Marmora made their way back through the vents, dragging each unconscious body behind them and then slinging each teen onto their back when they made it to the roof.

 

On the roof, they met the second team, who were toting their equipment. “We have everyone?” Asked the second captain.

 

“Yes, and the gift is in position.” The other replied.

 

“Then let’s get the hell out of here gentlemen!”

 

Several miles away from the Garrison, a helicopter picked up the Blade and the enhanceds. The enhanceds were quickly hooked up to an IV, and there were several doctors ready to vaccinate them.

 

“I cannot believe that we got away with that!” one of the younger soldiers exclaimed. “I thought for sure that the Garrison would have a heck of a lot more guards!”

 

Another one of the soldiers snorted. “Are you kidding? The Garrison has let down it’s guard more and more as the years went by. After all, it’s been ten years since they first started all of the research at the Garrison. After the first few interruptions from the media, they simply made it look like they were adding more guards. They were just making them take the same routes over more quickly so it _looked_ like they had a lot of personnel.”

 

“Oh.” Said the first soldier, a bit sheepish that he hadn’t known that. Then he looked over at the seemingly lifeless bodies in the back of the helicopter. “What do you think they had to-”

 

“IGNITE!” Shouted the second captain, and one of the soldiers from team two pressed a button. As the helicopter pulled farther and farther away from the Garrison,  the Garrison lit up like a christmas tree and blew up, it’s foundations sinking in on itself, it’s walls cracking and letting out a flood of dust and it’s roof opening upwards as though it were a volcano.

 

“Woah!” One of the soldiers shouted, amazed at the fireworks display.

 

“What did you _put_ in that thing?” Another asked, curious as to what could make that entire heavily fortified building explode with that much force.

 

“You don’t wanna know.” One of the tech team members replied. “What you do want to know is that as soon as we have a computer with internet access, we’re exposing the Garrison.” They said with an evil grin. “It’s time for those bastards to get what they deserve.”

 

**[ E N DO FP A R TE I G H T ]**


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD SEASON 6 WAS FREAKING AMAZING  
> SO MUCH HYPE AND IT WAS SO WORTH ITTTTTTT  
> SO GOOOD WOW  
> THAT WAS THE BEST ONE YET (in my opinion, my friend is pissed they killed Lotura lmao)  
> ANYWAYS HAVE A FREE CHAPTER IN HONOR OF THE NEW SEASONNNN

Allura was shaken after the charity ball, (or as the media was calling it, “The Exposing of Enhanceds”) but when she turned on the news the next morning, she was immensely happy.

 

“…no, so apparently, the reason no one got the word out in time was because the rebels, whoever they were, worked as efficiently as a machine, cut the power and grabbed the enhanceds! Hey, I guess we can call them Voltron, huh?” One of the news anchors giggled. “What a ridiculous ordeal, I’m sure that the enhanceds will be caught quickly and brought back to the Garrison soon enough.” Allura’s heart plummeted. _Did people really believe the enhanceds didn’t deserve a chance? What would happen to her?_

 

Their partner gave a frown at the news anchor, but cleared their throat to read the report in front of him.

 

“Right, so, for those of you who haven’t heard yet, after the Exposing of Enhanceds, also known as ‘The Altea Charity Ball’, the Garrison was blown up. Thankfully, no one was injured other than a few bruises. Before authorities could check out the damage, however, the internet exploded. Someone, most likely the person or people who took down the Garrison, uploaded all files on the Garrison’s secrets. It took quite a few hours to go through it all, but the information contained in those files were shocking.”

The man reading his report, put down his papers to look directly at the camera. “I’m going to say something. As a person, not as your anchor. The things Allura Altavilla said at the charity ball, they were all morally right. I don’t care if I lose my job saying this, but I _am_ going to say this: Why on earth did we take a three year old and experiment on them because they were different? Difference is how we get farther out in the world. If we had everyone acting like the same person, nothing would be done, and we would be taken out by our own flaws. I personally believe that we all have different flaws because there is another person out there who can help you with _your_ flaw, another person out there who can help _them_ with their flaw, and so on. Humanity is built on helping each other, and difference can help so much. And that is why,” The anchor said, slamming on the desk to make his point, “I am going to set up an account that people can donate to to help out the enhanceds. Shock collars, torture, and using life energy for weapons is _not_ human in anyway. I am creating an account to try and fix the lives of five children who’s pasts we have permanently scarred. I fully support the Altavillas and their upcoming school, Altavilla’s Academy for Adapts. Thank you!” he shouted, and the screen changed to a quick commercial, as the news station scrambled to change anchors.

 

“YES!” Allura shouted, pumping her fist into the air and dancing around in her room. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!”

 

While Allura was celebrating her allies and how _one_ person so far was allied with her cause, Coran and her father were speaking with a much older ally.

 

“Ah yes, Alfor, here he is!” Coran exclaimed, gesturing to the boy wearing aviator goggles who was sitting on the desk swinging his legs back and forth. “Here is the boy who introduced me to this noble cause. I-uh, do not know your name however, would you mind telling us?” Coran asked the boy. Until that moment, he had seemed callow, constantly moving, eyes darting everywhere, fingers tapping the desk, sucker in his mouth. But when Coran asked for his name he became stock still.

 

“I, uh, don’t like giving out my name.” He said quickly. “It brings back bad memories.” Alfor nodded sympathetically.

 

“If you do not mind my asking,” he began, staring intently at the young boy, who was maybe two or three years older than Allura. “What made you fight for your cause? Besides the evident fact that it was unfair for your people.”

 

The boy leaned back, his legs swinging back and forth and picking up speed as he stared at the ceiling, as though this was the way to ask strength of the gods. “Darn….it must have happened when I was….six maybe? I...had a sibling.” The boy heard a sharp intake of breath, but ignored it. “I had a little sibling. A younger sister. Four years younger than me. Could pass for my twin, if not for my height. I loved them with everything I had. Her name was….oh god, I can’t remember. But I do remember how much I loved her, and how much I regret the decision I made that day.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_[ Ten Years Earlier ]_

 

“Hey little sis!” A short little boy with short light brown hair smiled joyfully at his younger sister, who looked at him and babbled. He knew that she knew that he had referred to her. He knew that his baby sister was smart and understood. The dreaded adult humans didn’t.

 

The boy knew they were different from humans. He knew because whenever the adults came after them, to take them to “a better place”, he would hoist his little sister onto his back and run. And somehow, each time, they would make it out free and alive.

 

He never knew how, but they always managed to outrun them. They always managed to make it somewhere else, somewhere secluded. And it was fine like that. They didn’t have a problem finding food, his little sister always found some plant life that wasn’t harmful to their health, even if he didn’t fully understand _how_.

 

It didn’t matter. They had each other, and they had traveled the world together. The world connected by land anyways, but the boy had a theory that his gift, his lucky charm, would allow him to get to the other side of the water someday.

 

Today was the day to try.

 

“Lil’ sister, I’ll be right back!” He told her, setting her down on a patch of grass and a puddle. She stopped babbling, to look at him, then look around, her matching hazel eyes locking onto his. She pulled at a blade of grass and waved it around. He laughed at her. “I’ll be right back!” He grinned, crouching down and ruffling her hair. “I’m gonna see how far luck can take us!”

 

And he turned around and walked away.

 

When he made it to the edge of their “area”, he discovered a public park, with humans walking around and looking strangely at him. He ignored them, having learned that if he slowed down, they would latch onto his arm and ask “Where was his mummy?”.

 

_I don’t have one,_ He would reply sometimes, and they would look at him strangely before asking, “Where was his daddy?” _._

 

_I don’t have one_ , He would reply again.

 

They would panic and start to drag him towards a police officer before he would wrench himself out of their grip and run back to his sibling, to his family, to his **\-----** .

 

Today was no different, but he made his way quickly to the pond, which was thankfully empty. Only a few curious ducks made their way towards him, eagerly looking for crumbs or food.

 

The boy took a deep breath, and looked down the hill at the edge of the pond. He took off, running as fast as his little legs would carry him, and praying to whatever deities were watching him that he wouldn’t sink straight into the water.

 

It worked. He ran fast enough that he found himself on the other side of the pond, shoes slightly wet, and a frothy white wake behind him.

 

“Yes!” He cheered, dancing around. “Yes yes yes yes!” The ducks quacked at him, and the nearby geese honked at the annoying boy who was too close to their nests. _They could go across the water now!_

 

And it was then, when he realized that something was wrong. He whipped back towards the direction he had came from and realized that he could hear her. He could hear his little sister’s voice. He didn’t know how, but it was all around him, as though it was coming from the flowers, from the trees, from the grass.

 

_“MA!”_

 

He ran, ignoring all of the surprised adults, the confused animals, the rowdy teenagers, he ran as fast as he could, faster than ever before, tears disappearing into the wind as he ran and prayed that he _wasn’t too late_.

 

He tore through the underbrush and thorny bushes to the secluded hideout.

 

There were adult sized footprints everywhere.

 

A scream tore itself from the boy’s throat as he dropped to his knees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“....I spent the next few days running all over that park, all over that city.” The boy said, small tears forming in his eyes as he brought his head back down, looking down at the floor, and his swinging legs slowing down, as though reminding him, he hadn’t been fast enough that day. “I have never stopped looking for her. I don’t know where she went if she escaped, hell, I have no idea who took her.” He looked up, his eyes fierce. “But I do know that she’s alive. I would feel it,” his hand moved to his chest, where his heart lay, “if she died.” He finished.

 

Coran was near tears while Alfor was in tears, small ones, trickling down his face as he listened to the tragic story. “I am incredibly sorry.” Alfor said, his voice cracking, as he too, remembered the feeling of loss. “Is there anything we can do to help you look?”

 

The boy gave a small sad smile. “That’s the thing. I am looking. I have been looking. All of my work, helping the Blade, and locating the hidden and hurt enhanceds? In a way, I am finding her. Every little person I help, I get closer to her.” He gave a bitter laugh. “For a guy who moves so fast, I guess I was too slow.”

 

And suddenly, he was being hugged. Alfor had moved forward and hugged the boy who froze and then accepted the hug. “You are helping so many others.” Alfor said to the boy. “It is most definitely time for someone to help you, as well. Welcome to the family, Wind.” The boy grinned and felt true happiness for the first time in years.

 

“Thank you sir,” the boy who ran like the wind and messed with time replied. “Thank you.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Blade was understandably nervous, by the time they returned to their base in the desert, far from any city or town. Kolivan waited in the main room, and clapped each captain on the back. “Well done, captains.” He exclaimed. “Let us get our guests to the rooms we have prepared for them.”

 

One of the soldiers in the back nervously raised his hand. “But sir, we don’t need to guard them or anything? What if they tear the place apart and kill us all?” Kolivan nodded thoughtfully.

 

“True, they could kill us all. But think about how much power they currently have used in the past years: none. I doubt they would be able to tear the base apart, having used so little of it for so long. It’s probably like a muscle to them. Besides, if they wake up with a gun barrel looking down their face, I highly doubt they would be friendly. Better to treat them humanely, like they so rightfully deserve.” The soldiers nodded, some anxiety gone, before heading up the stairs to the rooms they had prepared.

 

It did _not_ go well.

 

But it wasn’t the soldiers faults.

 

And at least no one died.

 

The third enhanced was the first to wake up and acted fairly calm, despite being in a new place. “Uhhhhh, hello?” He asked timidly. “Where am I?” He sat up in the bed cautiously, and jumped slightly when Kolivan and Thace walked through his door. “Can I help you?”

 

Thace and Kolivan sat down before him. “That would be nice, thank you,” Thace replied, making sure that he seemed amiable. “You are in the Blade of Marmora’s base, after the rescue mission that succeeded.” The boy seemed surprised.

 

“Rescue mission? Who would want to rescue us?” The boy asked. “I’m thankful, but really. Aren’t we a sort of menace to society?”

 

Thace blinked. “True, many think that of you, but only because of-”

 

“The Great World War,” Hunk finished. “Weren’t they right though? We are menaces to society.”

 

“That cannot be defined for you. That is simply not acceptable, I refuse to accept it.” Kolivan cut in sharply, his voice hard.

 

The boy blinked, as did Thace. “Alright then. My name is Hunk, and I don’t have too much to tell-”

 

A loud crash and scream cut him off. Hunk paled. “Oh no.” He whispered. Kolivan ran towards the door as Thace helped Hunk out of the bed to follow him.

 

When they arrived, they found the fourth enhanced, awake and bleary from the sedative, a ring of fire surrounding him and the bed.

 

“Commander! He-he-he just woke up and-and-and then the fl-flames just erupted and-” the soldier babbled, near tears from hysteria. “I don’t know what to do!” He wailed. Kolivan pushed the soldier aside and stepped into the room, ignoring the intense heat he faced.

 

“Calm down now!” He called to the boy, whose eyes snapped to his. The mighty commander stumbled back in shock at the sight of the boy’s eyes. They were glowing red, and they looked whole, unlike what Allura had told them. _Could it be that when they reconnect to their element they change their eyes like that?_ He wondered, then shook the thought away.

 

Then Hunk arrived at the scene, his eyes wide at the flames that were steadily growing. “Keith!” He called, his voice almost lost over the crackling fire. “KEITH CALM DOWN! YOU’RE GONNA BURN THE ENTIRE PLACE DOWN!”

 

Keith looked at Hunk, for a long moment, then stepped out of the bed, his clothes from the Garrison inflammable in the mess of heat.

 

“Hunk.” He said slowly, walking towards the window. “Where are we?”

 

“We’re at a safe house!” He called back, rubbing his hand across stinging eyes. “They’re here to help us, Keith put out your fire!”

 

Keith’s flames seemed to die down as Keith leaned out of the window. “Did you feel it?” He asked Hunk.

 

“Feel what?” Hunk asked, no longer shouting over the roar of the fire.

 

Keith looked back at him. “The feeling of wholeness. Reconnect, you’ll understand.” Keith said vaguely, then climbed out the window and dropped to the ground below.

 

“Keith!” Hunk shouted, and then shook his head as though he was dizzy.

 

“Hunk,” Thace said worriedly “Are you alright-“ Before he could finish his sentence, Hunk swayed violently and fell towards the ground, his eyes rolling into his head.

“HUNK!” He shouted, catching the boy and steadying him before he hit the ground. “Hunk, are you alright? What’s going on?”

 

Thace caught the boy before he could fall to the ground, but when he caught Hunk’s gaze he nearly fell backwards in shock. His eyes, with their broken gaze, seemed to be _mending themselves_.

 

“Oh.” Was all that Hunk said. “That makes a lot more sense.” The boy then turned to _sand_ in the man’s fingertips. Thace scooted backwards as though he had seen evil deities himself, and Kolivan stood and stared, slack-jawed.

 

Another explosion shook the building, and shook them out of their stupor. More screams of terror cut through the air, and Kolivan and Thace quickly ran over to see the trouble.

 

They discovered in the main room, the enhanced Allura called Pidge, shaking in the corner rocking back and forth and crying as vines grew up their arms and intertwined with their head and small plants broke through the concrete floor. The other enhanced, name Lance, was hovering above the ground, water droplets frozen in time around him, his gaze as cold as ice. A broken pipe above his head dripped with water, adding to his ammunition.

 

It was dead silent in that moment. Then one of the soldier’s who’d put a tentative foot forward and the floorboards creaked. Lance’s eyes snapped to that soldier’s terrified face and the droplets turned to deadly spheres of ice. He shot a few of them at the soldier who hit the ground. The ice hit the wall and broke the plaster, it’s similarity to a bullet terrifying the soldiers.

 

“Lance.” Came Pidge’s voice, and his eyes snapped to them. “Lance, I can feel it again. The plants….they’re not dead!” Lance dropped to the floor and hurried over to Pidge. “We, we, we, I feel whole….Lance do you-“ He hugged the small child and murmured into their hair, “I know, I know, I can feel it to. Go. I can handle myself.” Pidge’s wide hazel eyes looked up at him, thankful for his protection. “Thank you Lance...thanks.” The vines around the child thickened and a bush grew around Pidge. Then Pidge was gone, the only reminder of their presence being the bush and the small plants growing around where they had been.

 

Lance looked back up at the soldiers, who nervously lifted their guns in case of retaliation. “That’s it.” He said dryly. “After all that pain, you just go and blow the Garrison up.” Lance waved his arms toward the window. “Oh man, you didn’t even let us get a _taste_ of the fun.” The soldiers moved slightly backwards, nerved by his dangerous tone of voice. “Y’know, I’ve been in that _hell-hole_ for ten years. And for what?” He moved closer to the window, looking out at the dry land, deprived of water. He laughed, a bitter sound that did not fit his look. “I’ll tell you what. For having a little bit of fun. For dancing on top of the water, for playing with something I couldn’t fully control. It’s all coming back to me now.” He turned his gaze back on the soldiers as he leaned against the window. “The boat. The waves. The storm. The people. I remember it all, and how stupid those dumb rich kids were. Sure, it was a hurricane, but I was well aware of their distance, and I wasn’t planning on going near them. My ocean, my storm, am I right? But no, they all panicked and called the Garrison.” His face turned into a sneer. “And they locked me up. Although, the Garrison, that was merely a training ground. A place to learn how to survive the physical torture they put us through. And emotional torture. We got some bonuses, though, or at least I did. _¿Por qué si no les estaría agradecido por darme una manera de esconderse a plena vista?_ ” Lance grinned. “Now I can punish the real cause for this entire nightmare. The ones who voted me into this life.”

 

Kolivan finally found his voice. “And that would be?” He asked, his voice shaky and dry. Lance’s grin turned sinister.

 

“The public, of course.”

 

Several of the soldiers in that moment chose to fire their guns at him. A bullet hit Lance in the arm and the leg, before Lance called the water nearby to take him away.

 

He vanished in a cloud of mist, a small puddle of blood on the floor to remind the soldiers of their crime against him.

 

There was a long moment of silence, then someone knocked on the front door.

 

“It’s us! We’re here to meet them!” Called Allura’s voice through the door. Thace went in a daze to open the door for the Altavillas. Alfor took in the look on Thace’s face and walked in, terrified of what he would see.

 

He saw a bush sprouting berries, and a puddle of water near a puddle of blood. “What on earth happened here?” He cried, afraid for the enhanceds who had no doubt awoken in a panic. He turned to Kolivan. “How did they react?”

 

Kolivan’s face was grim. “Badly. The earth enhanced, Hunk, woke up first, but before we could really talk to him, the fire enhanced, Keith,  woke up and nearly burned the place down before vanishing in a burst of flames. Then Hunk turned to sand, the plants enhanced, Pidge, turned into a bush, and the water enhanced, Lance,” He gestured to the shaken men and the two puddles on the floor. “Gave us quite the scare.” Kolivan’s face darkened. “He said he wanted to punish the public for throwing him into this life. I have no doubt that he may swamp several of the coasts with floods and storms for the next few weeks, or months.” Alfor nodded grimly.

 

Allura looked distressed at the news but was even more distressed as she realized something. “What about the fifth enhanced?”

 

“Oh.” Came a voice from the top of the stairs. “I guess they left already.” There stood the final enhanced, his white forelock of hair sticking up slightly from his recent unconsciousness. He sighed and continued down the stairs, oblivious to the way the soldiers gripped their guns and pointed the barrels slightly in his direction. He sat on the stairs and grunted as the wind was slightly knocked out of him. “That’s depressing.” He said aloud, though mostly to himself.

 

Allura looked at him curiously. “What’s depressing?”

 

He looked up at her and gave a small smile. “I’m tired from walking down the stairs and sitting down. Pfft, that’s not something you should be exhausted from.” He then noticed the gun barrels and nodded at the soldiers. “I figured you would use those.” The boy then fully looked around the room, taking in the bush, the holes in the walls, and the puddles. He grimaced. “I take it Lance didn’t take it well, then?”

 

Thace gave a short laugh. “Didn’t take what well? His newfound freedom? He sure didn't. He promised to make the public pay for what they did to him.”

 

The boy’s face went slack as he realized what this meant. “Oh no.” He made to stand, but Allura moved forward and made him sit.

 

“Where are you going? You’re in no condition to go anywhere anyways.” He looked at her, a slightly exasperated look coming into his eyes.

 

“I’m going to yell at the ocean. Or nearest body of water if that works.” He dragged his real hand down his face. “Dang it Lance. They were scared, I’ve told him that a hundred times.” The boy looked up at the adults in the room. “He has a thing with anger. I’m not even sure if he learned that from Keith or if it came with him. Oh speaking of Keith, I was actually surprised that he didn’t blow the place up. I personally think he was more surprised that he felt _whole_ again rather than becoming angry.”

 

“Feeling whole again,” Thace interjected. “All of the others talked about feeling whole. What did they mean? Do you feel it?” The boy nodded. “I’m Shiro, by the way. When I first arrived at the Garrison….two years ago, I think...the first thing they asked me was how the planet looked.” Shiro looked over at Coran. “I assume that the world was puzzled why everything went so pale and started to die, as though it were plagued by something, am I correct?” Coran nodded, stroking his mustache.

 

“Indeed! Many of the scientists focused on trying to save the planet with their chemicals so the world didn’t starve, but it didn’t do much. Much of the world is slowly converting to smaller food portions and stockpiling frozen foods that don’t go bad as fast as they can.”

 

Shiro nodded, his white forelock slightly bouncing as he did so. “That’s because of us.” Allura ceased to breathe for a moment. “When the Garrison took us away from our connections, the environment connected to our powers suffered. I don’t know why, but take Lance for instance. All of the water turned paler, virtually clear, the plankton died for unknown reasons, the fish started becoming malnourished, the reef started dying even faster, etc, etc. That’s because our physical nature represents _actual_ nature. When Pidge was removed from any connection to plant life, the plants all started to grow weaker and die easier. When Hunk was taken, a lot of the earth became weak, and the metals and minerals started to become more and more scarce. When Keith was taken, much of the heat on earth vanished, along with the ability to make fire so easily. And I guess….that when I was taken, things got a little bit darker. There was no abundance of death or anything, at least, not to my doing. Every time we were beaten, the earth and people suffered for it. It’s kind of ironic.”

 

“Are you telling me that we’ve been slowly killing ourselves in an attempt to kill our foolish fear?” Allura cried. “Are we still dying? Who’s going to tell people about this?”

 

Shiro smiled, a real one that softened the hard look he had. “People’ll figure it out soon enough. Now that we’ve all been reconnected, it should replenish the earth quickly enough. It depends on where we go, because that’ll make a trail of fixed nature.”

 

He was met with blank looks, and sighed. “Think of it this way. Pidge,” he gestured to the bush and small plants in the corner. “When they walk through a forest, their power will replenish the forest and all plant life, eventually spreading outwards, but very slowly. When they walk through a field of dying crops, the crops will perk back up because they were in their vicinity. Same with all of us. Got it?”

 

Everyone nodded. “I can assume that you all have more questions, and I’d be glad to answer them, but I really want to get rid of this wretched arm please.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“You’re telling me,” Allura hesitated, not sure if she continue with this fragile question or not. “That...you can feel the life force of everyone on earth. How long they’ll live….and you could cut someone’s life force with your power? That last part, that’s what I don’t understand.”

 

Shiro blew out a breath, stirring the white hairs on his head. “ Think of every life force as a thread. They’re all unseen, but they’re all there. The threads are tied to the person’s soul and death. As death’s…..son? I don’t really know, but as death’s...son, I can call those threads to me. I can see whose thread is whose life, and I can see what they’ve done in their life. And essentially, I can cut the string, ending their life.”

 

Allura looked at Shiro in amazement, not in disgust as many others would have. Her mind was buzzing with hundreds of ways to end serious crime before they occurred. “How do you know all of this? Didn’t the Garrison cut off your supply of energy so you couldn’t use your powers?”

 

Shiro grimaced at the mention of the Garrison. “Yes, but you can’t _stop_ death _forever_. Do you know of the greek myth, Sisyphus?” Allura shook her head, and Shiro continued. “Sisyphus ticked off Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus then told his brother Hades, who was the god of the underworld, to send his lieutenant, Thanatos, who was the god of death, to go chain Sisyphus and bring him to the underworld to serve his eternal punishment. When Thanatos arrived, however, Sisyphus realized what was going on, and slyly asked Thanatos to demonstrate how ‘this great god was to chain him and take him to the underworld.’ As Thanatos was granting his wish, Sisyphus seized the chains, chained _him,_ and then proceeded to lock Thanatos up in a chest.”

 

“Wait, how was Sisyphus able to chain a god?” Allura asked, confused on how such chains should exist. “Didn’t you say you can’t stop death?”

 

Shiro nodded. “You can’t. You can’t stop it _forever_. Not unless you’re immortal, which no one is today. But anyways, because Thanatos was chained by such strong chains, everything ceased to die for the next few days, which really pissed off Ares. You can’t win a war if no one ever dies. Ares complained to Zeus, who complained to Hades, who quickly realized that his beloved lieutenant had not returned. They put two and two together and they found Thanatos in the chest, who was incredibly incredibly pissed.”

 

“So, Sisyphus suffered an eternal punishment?” Shiro shook his head. “Nope! He actually avoided death for a while longer.”

 

“What?! How?!”

 

“I’ll get to that later, but what I was trying to say with this story was nothing lasts forever. My power continued to work but it was incredibly weakened. People, animals, and plants continued to die, but less often, with more suffering and pain involved.” Shiro thought for a moment, his grey eyes lighting up at an idea. “I think...that’s why none of us ever really suffered enough to lay down and die. Every time we were bruised badly, it would always vanish in a day or two, even when they were really bad. Any scars we received faded away until there was nothing there anymore. Because there was always a _small_ connection to our powers. For me, people still died. For Lance, the pipes in the building, and the water in our bodies. For Pidge, the plants grown upstairs for experimentation. For Keith, there was always heat, whether it was body heat or the heating system. And for Hunk, the raised cage was still, in a way, connected to the ground. You can’t suspend something mid air without having some support beams touching the ground.”

 

“That is true,” Allura concluded, silently fuming at the Garrison’s brutal ways.

 

Shiro looked away from Allura and out the window where the morning light was creeping closer and closer to them.

 

“It’s time to go.” He said solemnly to himself. Allura looked at him in alarm.

 

“Wait! I have so many more questions! You can’t just leave the world like this!” Allura cried, flinching when Shiro turned his gaze on her, suddenly realizing what she was saying.

 

Shiro stood up and pulled her up with him. Allura suddenly felt very flustered, not knowing what to say. Never had a guy been so gallant or so polite to her like this. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out as Shiro looked at her, his gaze soft on hers.

 

“We aren’t leaving the world like this Allura. We’re fixing it. But if we stay here, nothing will be fixed. Our presence needs to help. It would be selfish not to do so. Even after all the world has done to us. That’s why I need to go, rediscover myself.” He looked over at the adults in the room, nodding to each of them. “I’ll keep an eye on the others as well. Make sure that they don’t get caught or blow up the earth or something.” He gave a small smile. “Thank you for freeing us. It’s time to repay the favor.”

 

Allura could only stare as Shiro stepped away from her and vanished in a swirl of sudden black smoke.

 

“Repay us, huh?” One of the soldiers said, not so quietly. “I wonder how the rest of the world will react.”

 

**[ E N D  O FP A R T  N I N E ]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation for what Lance said ("¿Por qué si no les estaría agradecido por darme una manera de esconderse a plena vista?”): "Why else would I be grateful to you for giving me a way to hide in plain sight?"
> 
> (If that isn't fully correct, just send me a comment and I'll change it!)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How have things been? How have things changed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....hi.
> 
> I may or may not have forgotten about this story.....
> 
> But i'll continue it as long as you guys want it to be continued!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

“....it has now been about four years since the Garrison Incident.” The news anchor was saying to his partner on the screen, a slowly rotating globe hovering behind them. “Ever since the ball that was hosted by the Alteas, society has been greatly changed.” The original news anchor shot a smile at his female partner who continued on from where he left off. “Just two months before the four year anniversary, a new trend erupted across the country.”

 

A picture flashed across the screen to show a parade, filled to the brim with teenagers, wearing the bright neon colors of blue, red, green, yellow, purple and black, all toting signs and shouting in the streets.

 

“Thousands of teenagers are flooding the streets showing their support for the hiding enhanceds, and despite being so different, rooting for their acceptance into society, as they were treated so unjustly and cruelly because of a fear that was older than the enhanceds themselves. Since then, extraordinary things have happened. It truly is a miracle that the Garrison was stopped, including a possible discovery of one of the enhanced’s whereabouts.” The viewer snorted, convinced that it was another hoax, but kept watching the screen in the darkened room.

 

The room itself wasn’t very big, it was about the size of a cheap hotel room. Scattered on the bed and the desk were papers and small objects, the size of those that you would snap onto a utility belt. The window had the curtains drawn, and the lights were set to the lowest setting.

 

“....while the enhanceds have vanished, there have been hundreds of reports across multiple countries claiming to have an enhanced in captivity, an enhanced with them, or simply having seen the enhanced. Several of the stronger leads include photographic evidence of a boy rising out of lava-” A dark and blurry photo of a boy stepping out of a volcano floated on the screen behind the reporters for a moment. “A small teen, gender unknown, who had a trail of vines growing around their arms in public-” Another photo joined the first, this picture slightly less blurry. This one was of a crowd at one of the parades that protested the enhanceds’ treatment at the Garrison. In the top corner of the screen was a person hanging out of a window, high above the crowd, small plants growing around their arms.

 

The figure in the room snorted at the tv. “What, you think that’s _everything_?” They said dryly. “There’s definitely more than just two pictures.”

 

“There was even a rumor that has recently been confirmed as _true_ about one of the enhanceds joining up with the famous acrobatics circus, _The Cloud Circus_.” A video appeared on the screen of the opening sequence of the circus. The figure in the room stilled for a moment, giving their full attention to the screen.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls,” The ringmaster shouted, rather clichely. He paused dramatically, allowing the shaky camera to zoom close enough to catch the shadows of his face. Then he looked up, and the camera was met with a young face painted with glittery blue shadows and ocean blue eyes that seemed to _glow_ in the dimness of the light. “Or should I rather say, because that’s _so_ nineteenth century stuff, Hey there, guys, gals and non-binary pals! Welcome to th-”

 

“Lance!” The true ringmaster cried, running onto the stage. He was about a year older, and he had a crop of dark hair that somehow matched his red ringmaster’s coat.

 

It was obvious that this was all part of the act. “You can’t just take over for the day! Besides, before _I_ say the words, you have to do the magic!”

 

“But there’s no such thing as magic! No faires, no dragons, no such thing as fantasy,” A spotlight focused on a girl sitting in a hula hoop high above them both. “You should know that, ringmaster! You too Lance! It’s all just an act! That’s what others say, so shouldn’t you believe them?”

 

“But haven’t you heard of the famous words from the great J.M. Barrie?” Lance shouted back at her, making his way to a small stand near the crowd. “‘Do you believe in fairies?’” His voice lowered to a quieter tone, one that his microphone almost didn’t pick it up. “‘Say quick if you believe. If you believe, clap your hands!’” He shouted the last part and then clapped his hands once, so quickly and loudly it seemed to have come out of nowhere. The clap echoed through the tent and doubled in sound and size until the sound of it threatened to swallow everyone whole.

 

It turned into the sound of drums and the ringmaster snuck up behind Lance, took his hat back, and smacked Lance over the head lightly.

 

“Welcome, Guys, Gals, and Non-binary pals!” The ringmaster bellowed as Lance grinned and threw his hands up, flipping backwards off of the stand.

 

“ _To the Cloud Circus!_ ” Lance was yanked up into the air by the girl on the hula hoop, and started an impressive acrobatic feet for the audience, who whooped and shouted.

“This circus,” the news anchors said, once the clip on the screen behind them had ended. “Is a very impressive feat. Not only is it run by teenagers from ages eighteen to thirty, sponsored by the famous McClain family, and has won the award for ‘most daring acrobating feats and more’ but they always manage to set up their tent atop the water.”

 

“What do you mean, atop the water?” the other news anchor asked, interrupting their partner. “Do you mean, atop the docks, or something like that? Does it have an inflatable base at the bottom of their tent?”

 

The first news anchor shook their head. “No. I mean _atop_ the water. As if the water has a sheen of glass on top of it that allows them to pitch their tent on top of it. It adds to the “magic”, I guess. No one figured out how it worked, until recently.”

 

“It was discovered that the male acrobat in the video, by the name of Lance, is one of the Voltron enhanceds,” They continued. “He was discovered by a local when he went out to town and didn’t realize someone was recording him as he started walking on top of the water like it was nothing.”

 

“Like Jesus,” the second news anchor jokes. “That’s pretty impressive. I am assuming that the _Cloud_ _Circus_ picked up and left the minute that video took off, no?”

 

The first anchor shook their head. “On the contrary. They stayed, due to their train becoming delayed, and they received an enormous crowd the next day, even bigger than their usual, which is pretty big. There’s now a wait line on any tickets. So be sure to book ahead of time and get down there! One our own reporters are on their way to interview the artists there! And now, onto the topic of the Altea Academy-”

 

The figure in the room strode forward and shut off the tv, fully immersing themselves in the darkness of the room. They stood there for a moment, then walked over to the window and threw open the curtain. Light flooded the room to reveal Allura Altea, in all of her badass glory, as she walked over to the bed and picked up a walkie talkie with private communication line labeled, _Wind_.

 

“I found him.” She murmured into the walkie. A crackly voice came through on the other side. “W-what? Can you repeat that?”

 

“I found the last enhanced from the Garrison. Commence operation: Home.”

* * *

 

**[ _H U N K_ ]**

 

_Four Years Prior…_

 

 

Hunk had run as fast as he could.

 

Well, he hadn’t really _ran_ , per say, but he had turned to dust in Thace’s arms and then reappeared in the middle of the Sahara Desert so….he could say that he had escaped?

 

He was fully aware that there was no stranger sight in the desert then him. A boy of about fourteen, running through the desert in a tattered white tunic and a tattered set of shorts. No water, no supplies, no end destination.  There was nothing stranger than him. Or maybe a mirage could be considered weirder, but it depended on what you were seeing in your half-dead state.

 

Still, he ran through it, the sun pounding down on him, the sand slipping underneath his heat, sweat immediately evaporating, until he collapsed onto the sand dunes.

 

_What was he doing? He was free, but here he was running like an escaped criminal_.

 

_Aren’t I though_? He thought to himself, delirious from hunger, lack of water, and desperation, but still running due to the adrenaline that he hadn’t felt before. _Do I count as a criminal in these situations?_

 

He shook his head to himself. _No. I don’t. I did nothing wrong….I think_.

 

Hunk pushed himself back up to his feet and continued walking. He walked for hours until he was sure blisters had formed all over the bottom of his feet and his legs felt as though they were going to fall off. He stopped in the shade of an incredibly large sand dune that provided some coverage from the sun.

 

Hunk panted and sunk into the sand, stopping and fully thinking for the first time in hours.

 

_Wait a minute!_ He thought, sitting up sharply and slapping himself in the forehead, accidentally showering his face and hair with sand and dust. _I have earth powers, that I’ve never really used before...why don’t I try them out?_

 

He stood shakily, but fell back down to his knees. For the first time possibly in his life, Hunk realized how malnourished and weak he was. _I should have passed out hours ago!_ He panicked internally. _But why didn’t I?_

 

Hunk looked down at his hands and realized the sand around him was stirring. There was no wind, but the sand was still piling up in front of him. He scuttled backwards in a panic and the sand stopped moving.

 

Hunk stared at the granules of stone. _Am...am I controlling the sand?_ _I wouldn’t think that possible given all of the Garrison’s experiments…_

 

He had to try. Otherwise, he would die of dehydration or freeze to death that night. He needed to know if he could still use his powers to teleport out of the desert. He took a breath and lifted his hands again. The sand rose in an enormous wave. He dropped his hand in awe and was promptly showered in sand.

 

He sputtered, tasting sand and shaking his head in an attempt to dislodge some of the sand in his hair. He grinned, feeling sand in his teeth, his hair, his eyes and all of the creases of his face.

 

For the first time since his captivity, he felt happy. He still remembered. He could do what he wanted, go where he wanted. He grinned and whooped, as the sand solidified into shapes, animals, people, places that he had only seen in pictures. He pushed himself to his feet and walked through the sand cities that shifted their positions but kept their shape. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Mumbai, Johannesburg, Berlin, Toronto, Munich, Madrid, Dublin, Miami, Vienna, Rome, Osaka, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, and so many other places. He walked through the cities, wishing he could leave this mishmash of cities for someone else to find.

 

Then he realized he could. Hunk stepped back out of the giant city. He took a deep breath and focused his power on the sand. _Solidify….solidify…..turn to stone!_

 

There was a loud crack and Hunk opened his eyes to see that not only had he turned the city to stone, he had also turned the surrounding area to stone as well. There was a ten mile radius of stone with the city structures in the middle of it all.

 

“Woah..” he said aloud, wincing at the sound of his voice that was nearly dead with disuse. Hunk looked down at his blistered feet that were screaming in pain against the solid rock.

 

“Now… I just need to get out of here.” Hunk said aloud. He looked up at the cloudless sky as he tried to think of something to help him. He needed a plan, a compass...and maybe some knowledge of where he currently was. Hunk took a deep breath, focused his power on the ground beneath him, and let the earth swallow him up.

* * *

 

For Hunk, the next few years were, safe to say, mundane. He was teleported to the Himalayas where he met a lovely girl by the name of Shay, who allowed him to stay with her. Shay was a mountain guide for the crazy people who were still up for the idea of life or death situations. These were the hikers who decided to try and hike up the snow filled mountains, including Mount Everest, which was still the tallest mountain. Within the month, Hunk was hired into the hiking company, which was called The Balmeras. Shay and Hunk became fast friends and became guides for the hiring hiking group and they traveled all over the world where the Balmeras were summoned. They went to Mont Blanc, which was on the border of France and Italy, they went to Cerro Torre, on the border of Chile and Argentina, they went to The Eiger in Switzerland, Denali in the state of Alaska, USA, (Though Hunk was nervous about heading to a state in the USA, the Garrison still haunted him), Vinicunca, in the Cusco Region of Peru, Annapurna in Nepal, and so so so many more places.

 

For Hunk, these journeys across the world truly helped him get over his fear of the Garrison. The Garrison was gone, _for good_. Their power was diminished. Hikers continuously spoke about the enhanceds and how the world had changed, it was the most popular topic of course, with “sightings” taking place all over the globe. Most people had seen the errors in their ways. They fully supported the enhanceds, and were ready to welcome them into society with open arms. In addition to that, there was the topic of Altea’s Academy for Adapts.

 

“Yeah, I don’t know, there’s something, like, _off_ , about the Alteas.” One hiker was talking to the group as a whole on the trip to Denali.

 

Another hiker had snorted, which was hard to do at such a high altitude. “Do ya mean the fact that the girl, Allura, is an enhanced herself? ‘Cause last time I checked, that was old news.”

 

There were a couple of wheezy snickers around the group. Hunk breathed as steadily as he could to seem normal. To be honest, the topic of enhanceds made him nervous every time it was brought up. But it was nice to hear about a supposed sighting of a fire enhanced or a plant enhanced, or even a water enhanced. Every time he heard about the sightings he had a moment of hope, that the enhanced mentioned was Lance, Pidge, Keith, or Shiro. It also gave him hope that they hadn’t gotten in too much trouble. (Knowing most of them, they probably got to all sorts of illegal shenanigans).

 

But the topic of Allura Altea...that was one that he didn’t hear too often. Hunk made a mental note to search up any news on the Alteas when they made it back to the ground.

 

“Aww yea, sure I know that the girl’s an enhanced,” the original hiker said. “No, but it’s the whole academy business. I know that there are at least six counted enhanceds, if you include the Altea girl. But why would you build an academy if you have only six “students”?”

 

The second hiker shrugged their shoulders, or more, their enormous pack. “I dunno man, they’re rich people. They have loads of money in their bank accounts. They probably want to show off.”

 

Shay was the next person to speak up, surprising Hunk, even though his heart gave a traitorous little skip when she glanced at Hunk before turning to the conversation.

 

“What if...it’s because there are more than just six enhanceds?” There were some sputters of indignation and some snickering. “What, like we wouldn’t have found them already?” “I’m just saying, the Garrison was the best military force in this country to find people.” “Yeah, they totally would have found them wayyyy beforehand.” were some of the replies that filled the frigid mountain air.

 

Shay turned her soft brown eyes on Hunk, as if asking for him to back her up on this. “What about the fourth enhanced? The fire one?”

 

“What about ‘im?” The first hiker asked.

 

“Didn’t he hide pretty efficiently until he got too angry and blew up every volcano, underwater and on top of the land, near him?”

 

“Trueeeee, but! That proves nothing about other enhanceds existing. I still think that the Altea’s are just showing off.” The second hiker piped up.

 

The first hiker looked back at Shay. “No, I think the lass is right. What if there _are_ more enhanceds? It would make sense with the academy then!”

 

There was a long period of silence other than the shuffling of rocks and snow and the stomping of feet. Then Hunk spoke up, wanting to speak honestly for once. “Can...you imagine how amazing that must be?”

 

Shay looked at Hunk, confusion in her eyes. “What do you mean, ‘amazing’?”

 

Hunk looked away from Shay and up the great mountain that they were preparing to scale. “I mean….for the Voltron enhanceds. They must have grown up….in so _much_ pain. I….don’t know what happened to them in the Garrison….but to be the only ones, that must have hurt _so_ much. To know that no one else other than the four others who were there felt your pain, but in addition to that, that no one understood the…. _magic_ behind their powers. Imagine what we could do with such an influx of powers. That one Voltron enhanced….the one with the fire powers….he could control flames and lava, couldn’t he? Say a volcano erupted. He could hold back the lava in time for everyone to get off the island. Say there’s a fire in a city. He could suppress the fire so that it doesn’t spread to other buildings.”

 

The first hiker gave a whistle. “That’s….a good point. I hadn’t thought about that. Gee man, that was some deep stuff. I think you’ve opened up all of our eyes here. Am I right?” He looked back at the rest of the hikers, who gave nods, or “Yeah, he’s right,” in replies.

 

Hunk flushed at the attention. “It was just a thought.”

 

“But it was probably also closer to the truth than you think.”

 

_More than you know_. Hunk thought to himself.

* * *

 

“Oh my god, what is that, that is _amazing_!” Hunk exclaimed, looking down at the bowl in his hands as though it were sacred to him. It probably was to him, having now discovered the glorious food.

 

Shay cocked her head.  “Thats…paella. it’s a standard Spanish dish, I think. It consists of rice, shrimp, and some other ingredients. What do you mean? I thought you said you came from America, they have almost every type of food on earth there. How can you not have tried paella?”

 

“Ah, um-” Hunk blushed, desperately trying to think up an excuse. _Oh you know, I was held captive by the Garrison for about five years, because I am a “supposedly” deadly enhanced with the ability to kill everyone on earth by stomping my foot or something, and all they ever fed us was a vitamin filled yogurt/oatmeal/bar mix and vitaminized water!_ “-I don’t ever get out much. Definitely not _this_ far.” Hunk gestured to the Spanish restaurant they were currently dining in, with so many people bustling around.

 

“This far?”

 

Hunk’s brain shut down and then restarted in the span of a second. **_Back up, back up bACK UP BACK UP_**

 

“I, uh, mean….well…” Hunk laughed sheepishly raising his arm to scratch his head and look away from Shay’s amused gaze while his mind screamed for an answer. “It never really….occurred to me how many different recipes there were out there. I came from a family that was….not as well off as others. And I got used to eating the same bland old things. We never got to go out to restaurants or anything like that…so eating this amazing dish for the first time…..it’s really eye opening. To see this dish, how it’s a representation of over a thousand years of culture. It’s like a history lesson in a bite!” To emphasize his point, Hunk took a huge spoonful of the paella and stuck it in his mouth. “Mmmm~”

 

Shay laughed, and grabbed a bowl that was being passed around the table. “If you think that’s good, wait until you’ve tried quesadillas, it’s a Mexican dish but it’s one of my favorites…”

* * *

 

Hunk was still terrified of the aspect of his secret being discovered. He didn’t want to leave the Balmeran company, who had practically adopted him into their family. Hunk didn’t want to leave Shay, who he admired greatly.

 

_More like you liiiike your girl~friend!_ A voice in his head commented, sounding a lot like Pidge’s voice. Hunk smiled as he hiked up the trail, remembering the smaller girl.

 

It had been obvious that they were a girl, even though Pidge herself didn’t realize it at the time. Hunk didn’t know what had happened to Pidge to make her forget, but he hope she wouldn’t forget him or the others.

 

Oh god.

 

The others.

 

It wasn’t the first time Hunk thought about Shiro, Lance, Keith, and Pidge. He often wondered where they were and if they were alright. Every time he managed to receive a signal on his phone, he would desperately search online for articles reporting on the enhanceds. Thankfully, for the last year or so, the only news articles followed conspiracy theories.

 

Most of the world wondered openly where the enhanceds were (and some of the crazier theorists wondered if the enhanceds were even real. Which was as ridiculous as the “the Earth is flat!” theory) and if they would ever show their faces again. There had been a multitude of interviews concerning the Altea family, and their daughter Allura, who confessed to being an enhanced the night that the Voltron enhanceds were rescued from the Garrison. The first time Allura was interviewed personally concerning her powers, she said something confusing at the end.

 

_“Lance. Pidge. Hunk. Keith. Shiro.” She paused after each name, to emphasize that she was speaking personally to each of them. “I hope you are doing alright, wherever you are. I hope that you realize humanity was scared, Lance, that you don’t take it too personally. I hope that you reconnect with your element, and finally feel at home Pidge. I hope that you’re doing well, Hunk, and that you can realize that your element is a beautiful thing that make up this wonderful world. I hope you seek and find the fire that burns within the earth and in each person’s heart Keith. And Shiro,” She would take a deep breath and look to the floor, then look back up, smiling with the smallest tears glistening in her eyes. “I hope you’re doing well. I hope you cherish every life on this earth, as I do. Oh and of course, Wind. Keep running, keep searching. I wish you good luck. I’m always here for you.”_

 

Interviewers asked her afterwards, who “Wind” was, and Hunk had to wonder as well. Who was the Wind? Allura was extremely tight-lipped about Wind, other than wishing him good luck on international television, so he assumed that “Wind” was a friend of hers. Why that friend would be addressed on international television, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to think to hard about it.

 

“Hey Hunk! How ya doin’?” A cheerful voice came up behind him, and a hand slapped him on the back. He turned to see Maxine, a fellow hiker on their trip to Mount Elgon. They were on the said mountain now, and they were quite the ways from the ground. Currently, they were on a water and rest break before continuing onto the highest peak, Koitobos. Shay and her brother Rax were accompanying Hunk on the trip as guides, along with a local to make sure they went on the proper trail.

 

Hunk felt himself smile back at the cheerful 24-year-old. “I’m doing good Maxine. Just checking the internet.” Maxine looked at his screen, her smile getting bigger as she looked at the headline of the article.

 

“Ah. The enhanceds, huh?” She elbowed him. “Interesting topic. What do you think of it all?” Hunk sputtered as he tried to think of a quick lie. “Uh, well, um- you know, what I’m drawing a blank. What about you?” He tried desperately.

 

Maxine laughed loudly and grinned at him. “I personally feel bad.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I mean,” Maxine gestured around to the beautiful sights around them. “Those poor kids missed out on a happy childhood, on a _normal_ childhood because we were afraid of those _experiments_ back in World War II. We were scared that they were the exact duplicates of those _monsters_ , but we didn’t take into consideration that they were different from the others. We stereotyped them.”

 

Hunk nodded quietly, internally surprised at the anger in Maxine’s voice as she described her society’s flaws.

 

“I’m not suddenly changing my mind because of the Voltron break out, if you’re wondering,” Maxine continued. “I’ve been against the Garrison and their ways since the first enhanced was brought in. Lance.”

 

Maxine then looked around, checking that the others were farther away before gesturing for Hunk to come closer to hear what she had to say next. “I actually _met_ Lance. Before the Garrison. Actually, I still have the video.” She reached for her phone in her pocket, but before she could, Hunk grabbed her wrist in a grip that turned her back to him.

 

“You _met_ him?? How?!” Maxine smiled sadly.

 

“My folks are loaded. Fourteen years ago or so, I snuck out at night on my boat. We fought earlier that night, and I, being a spoiled little brat, stormed off to my boat. Only mistake was, I forgot how to turn back to the dock. It was pitch black, other than the moon. I had a little cabin with a bed and small kitchen, but I didn’t know how to drop anchor. I spent an hour or so panicking about how I was going to drift out to sea and die when the little 2 or 3 year old popped out of the water. Here, I’ll show you. The quality’s bad, but it should do.”

 

Maxine pulled out her phone and sat down on a wide rock. She patted the space beside her, indicating that Hunk should sit down. Hunk did, and she scrolled through her phone to find the video that uncovered a bit of Lance’s hidden life.

 

Lance had never spoken about his life before the Garrison, probably because he was too young to remember it. In fact, at the Garrison, Lance always dodged the question of what he was going to do if they were freed, always making a joke instead, or challenging Keith to a quiz contest. Hunk realized now that he knew next to _nothing_ about one of his oldest friends.

 

“Here it is!” Maxine said triumphantly, clicking on the video with a darkened thumbnail. “I sometimes watch this to remind myself that there is always a bit of light in the darkness.”

 

The video was shaky and dark, and the noise was nearly drowned out by the waves hitting the side of the boat, but the video quickly fixed itself to a better quality. The flashlight app was turned on and pointed at the water as Maxine’s soft little voice whispered in the background. “So, um. I’m making this video….in case…..in case I don’t make it out...i’m sorry Mom, and Dad, for yelling at you about….that. I shouldn’t have. I’m really really sorry!” The little Maxine’s voice wobbled, on the edge of tears, and the next few minutes were quiet other than the waves lapping against the sides of the boat and Maxine’s sniffles of tears. Then, there was a knock.

 

“W-what? Who’s there?!” Maxine shouted, terror evident in her voice. “A-a-are you a, a, ghost?”

 

The knocking stopped and instead there was a loud thump. Maxine turned the camera over to the bow and found a small, soaked little boy, looking at her curiously.

 

“Hi!” He said, excited. Maxine shrieked, causing the audio to pitch quickly.

 

“W-who are you??” She asked, evidently scrambling backwards as the camera nearly hit the deck. “And how did you get on my boat?”

 

The boy on the deck realized that he had scared her, so he backed up, giving her space. He then proceeded to sit cross-legged in the corner of the bow, still smiling brightly.

 

_My god, Lance was an adorable little kid_ , was all Hunk could think. _I’ve never seen him this cheerful before_.

 

“Hi! My name is Lance. I like the ocean. Do you like the ocean? There’s so many fish down there! But you can’t see them right now, which makes me sad. There’s also some dolphin down there too!” Lance chattered on for a few minutes, happily talking about all the different sea life below the boat.

 

Maxine’s labored breathing in the background of the video slowed down and became normal again.

 

“What’s your name?” Lance asked all of a sudden, turning his gaze back from the black waters to the girl in front of him.

 

“Uh, my name is, uh, M-maxine. How did you get on my boat? I’m in the middle of….nowhere.” Maxine asked timidly.

 

Lance laughed, but not in a mean way. More like he was happy she had asked, and she was about to be let in on something big.

 

“Oh! Here, I’ll show you!” And with that, Lance stepped up on the railing of the bow and stepped off.

 

Maxine gave a small shriek, and then ran over to the railing, the camera shaking violently as she avoided slipping on the deck.

 

“Lance! Lance! Lance, are you alright?” She swung the camera over the surface of the water, the light next to nothing other that the small lanterns hanging on her small boat.

 

She nearly dropped the camera when a head popped out of the water, blue eyes shining eerily. “H-how are you doing that?”

 

Lance rose out of the water, and stood on the surface. His face was nearly level with Maxine’s. “I don’t know!” He admittedly happily. He jumped up and down a few times, showing to Maxine that the surface was sturdy under his feet. “But look! If you’re scared of the dark, you should know that there’s always something hiding, waiting to light it up!” He stomped his feet once and a couple of bio-luminescent pulses of _something_ lit up and spread out through the water revealing fish and other creatures. “See! There’s always something cool hiding!”

 

“Wow! That’s amazing!” She exclaimed, obviously feeling better now that there was reassurance that nothing bad was to happen to her. Then she stopped smiling as she watched the little boy spin in circles.

 

“Lance,” Maxine said slowly, as though a thought had just occurred to her. “Where are your parents? How did this happen to you? How did you get these amazing powers?”

 

Lance stopped spinning on the surface, and turned his head to look at her, his expression falling, and his eyes seemingly dimming. “What are parents?”

Maxine gave a little gasp. Before she could answer, the ocean currents picked up, growing agitated as Lance put his little hand against his forehead. “I-I….can’t remember.” His eyes teared up, the tears just as luminescent as his eyes. The camera caught the tears hitting the water and sending a pulse of energy through the darkening water. More tears streamed down his face, as he sat on the water. “Why can’t I remember, Maxie?”

 

“I-I don’t know Lance, but,” She leaned farther over the rail. “My family can help you, you just need to come back to mainland with me-“

 

Before she could finish, the ocean’s temper changed so suddenly that Maxine’s boat was pushed roughly to the right. Maxine fell backwards onto the deck as the boat started moving in a direction. “H-hey, Lance! Wait, what’s going on-“

 

_“I’m sorry.”_

 

The way he said it made her stop speaking. As though he was mourning, as though he wanted to go to the mainland but he couldn’t.

 

_“It’s time for you to go._ ”

 

His voice had changed, to one that seemed to thrum with power.  Maxine looked back to where he was and saw Lance in the darkness, the camera barely picking up the frame of a little boy bathed in blue light. Lance’s eyes were the brightest thing in his silhouette, watching her and her little boat head back to the shore.

 

“ _Bye Maxine._ ”

 

Maxine had one thing to say.

 

“LANCE! THANK YOU FOR TEACHING ME ABOUT THE SECRET LIGHTS!”

 

The camera cut out there.

 

Hunk was speechless. “T-that was the enhanced? Lance?”

 

Maxine smiled at him. “There were always hidden few who believed that what we were doing was wrong. Like Lance said, there are always hidden lights in the dark.”

 

Hunk shook his head in disbelief. He felt lighter than he had before, knowing now that they had had supporters. He had known so when the Blade of Marmora had arrived to rescue them, but _still_. Hunk couldn’t believe that there were some out there who solely believed to give everyone a chance, as Maxine had. For the first year or so after their escape, the world had hunted for Hunk, Lance, Shiro, Pidge, and Keith, terrified that they would seek revenge for what the world had so wrongly done. And Hunk was sure that some of them were more than ready to do so. But they hadn’t. They were just as terrified of each other. But over a mutual peace, they had moved on from that point in time.

 

_“Would it really be so bad if I revealed myself to the world?_ ” Hunk thought to himself, as he watched helplessly later that day as Maxine dangled from a eroded cliff face. _“Probably not_ ,” He answered, using his long dormant powers to save Maxine from falling with his long dormant powers, revealing himself to Shay who had been watching from above.

 

**[ E N D  O FP A R T  T E N ]**

**Author's Note:**

> Cool, so this is the first story I've written on ao3, but I'm happy to be here.


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